Today!

Spring cleaning has hit my house hard in the last few weeks!  I have been kinda slacking on the housework and staying on top of the never.ending.dog.HAIR and my drawers and closet are overflowing with old clothes that need to find a new home.  So in true Spring Cleaning fashion I have been busy moving furniture and vacuuming behind things and just trying not to let Gracie take over the house.  I dropped Gracie off at doggie day care for a day of play and a much needed bath, I have moved all of the furniture out of my room that one girl can manage and I am sitting here waiting for the carpet cleaners to come.  I am absolutely MORTIFIED at the current condition of my carpet (thank you Gracie) and I am going hang my head in shame when the carpet cleaner arrives.  My curtains are headed to the dry cleaners on Monday, it is taking all my strength to not call the painter and have him come paint my ENTIRE house just because I want fresh clean walls and I was tempted to call Super Dad and ask to him to help me redo my bathroom.  Yay, I have Spring cleaning fever bad.  

Now if lazy bones would just pull her weight around here I would not have soooo much dog hair around this place. 

Now I am off to wait some more, perhaps a little tv watching is in my near future!

Two Weeks Old and Headed Home!

Today was a big day for Madeleine and Evelyn and a huge blessing for Ryan and Shannon both babies were able to come home from the hospital.  It was looking like Madeleine would be coming home first but clearly Evelyn did not want to be left behind so she got working on eating and was able to come home too.  So today around noon on their two week birthday they both said "see ya" to the NICU and hightailed it out of there.  I am sure Shannon ran out of there screaming "start the car, start the car" (siting my favorite IKEA commercial here), so the nurses would not change their minds and come back after them.  Had Madeleine come home first it would of made things challenging for Ryan and Shannon to visit Evelyn because Madeleine would not of been allowed back in the NICU for health reasons.  So both babies are home, safe in their own bed and I am sure Ryan and Shannon will have a busy night ahead!

Big sister Caroline is so happy to have her babies home!

Welcome Home Addie & Evie!

Babies, Blogversary & 700 posts!

Tomorrow is my blog's 5 year blogversary and this is the blog's 700th post. So, happy blogversary and 700th post "I'm Just Saying", it is crazy to think what this blog has been through and seen in the last five years.  The tales of Gracie, funny stories, frustrations with life, tears, boyfriends, break-ups and make-ups, birthdays, births of babies, paddling adventures and list goes on and on!  So in the spirit of the randomness that has graced this blog here is a oh so random post of life lately on this cloudy and rainy day.  

First off the main reason you are probably reading the blog today, you know those cute little babes that joined us 12 days ago Madeleine and Evelyn, well here is an update from their Mama…..

Twin Update: Sorry it has been so long since the last update, but things have been very busy! Both girls are still in the NICU, but are progressing well. The last week has been spent working hard to keep the girls from expending too much energy. They were having trouble gaining weight, and the staff thought it was from spending too much energy at feedings/diaper changes. That meant sometimes not being able to hold them when we visited. The plan has worked, though; Madeleine is now 4lbs 13ozs, and Evelyn is 4lbs 7ozs. The girls are out of the incubators and are in bassinets, and our current goal is for them to bottle/breast feed exclusively and no tube feedings. Looks like they will remain in the NICU for another 7-10 days, but it could be sooner if progress increases. We can't wait for them to come home!  

I was lucky enough to go spend a couple hours with them late last night and there is talk of sending Madeleine home soon.

I bought Gracie a new bed last week and so far (knock on wood) she has not chewed a hole in it.  I caught her in the act of pulling at it and trying to rip it, she got a quick pop to the mouth and a stern "no" and that was that, she is currently snoring like a old man and curled up in a ball on it.

I got good news in the mailbox last week in the form of some $$$, about 6 months ago the outside door lock on my car broke and I could not open my car with the spare key that I use when I go paddling so I had to have it fixed.  I took my car in and it was over $300 to have it fixed, doh, but I got a letter from Honda saying that they are fixing all of the door locks and that I need to send in my receipts and they will pay me back, I am pretty happy.  

Paddling season for the novice started a few weeks ago, the Sheriff and I have been helping out the last few weekends at the novice practice.  We both feel that we should volunteer more but we don't have a lot of free time so this is the best we can do at this time.  The Sheriff missed today because he is back working on Sundays, but I went and it poured rain on us, fun times.  

I never blogged about Valentine's day, it was pretty uneventful but really nice.  The Sheriff and I had two nights sans Mr. Pie and it was nice to go out just the two of us.  The Friday before Vday we went to the BeachFire Grill, we had won a couple gift cards to there over the Summer, so it was nice to have a cheap date night and on Saturday night we stayed in and BBQ'ed some tri-tip, grilled some veggies and drank wine, a perfect night in my book.  

Here is a pic of the front of the card I got him and yes, this was the third Valentine's Day in a row that I did not get a card, last year he received a lashing from my family about a lack of Valentine's Day acknowledgement and he bought me some flowers three days after the fact.  I have come to the conclusion the Valentine's Day, flowers and cards are just not his thing, I just wish they were, just once a year a little something something would make me really happy.  I mean for reals a $5 bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe's would make me so happy, oh well, a girl can dream. 

Friday night the Sheriff and I had another night to ourselves, seriously people two weekends in a row, not gonna lie I could get used to this!  I love having Mr. Pie around but in the last two point five years of dating we have not had a lot of nights without him and selfishly I really need them and I think WE really need them.  We went to the new Slater's 50/50, it was pretty darn good, nothing fancy, but good burgers and different scenery for us, if you have not been I highly recommend it.  We capped off the night with coffee for me, a cigar for the Sheriff at the park, no cell phones, no distractions, just me, him and chit chat, it was perfect.

Now I am off to find me something warm to eat or drink, today is the perfect day for comfort food!  Thanks for being part of the past five years of my life and the 700 posts that came with it, here is to many more!

Happy 4th Birthday Caroline!

Originally Caroline’s 4^th birthday party was scheduled for this past Sunday, but the babies decided they were ready to come out and party on Tuesday and cancelled the birthday festivities.  We all were kind of bummed that we were not going to be getting together but we TOTALLY understood that Shannon just gave birth and that she was recovering from major surgery and they had a lot going on, but at the last minute plans changed and the party was on.  We met up at the parents house for a low key party.  All of the kiddo’s brought their bikes and Caroline was able to show off her mad bike riding skills!  It was a little chilly so we did not stay outside long, just long enough to get some cute photos and videos.  

Grammy made this 4 and they pictures of her turned out so cute, she was so excited about her party!

Caroline loving the My Little Pony that I got her!

She also loves Super Man, so her Aunt Kathy & Uncle Mike hooked her up with a lot of superhero gear.

Uncle Ryan is the BEST

We had a boys club going on!

Grammy photobombing!

Grammy made Caroline her own cake, boy these kiddo's are spoiled with their individual cakes these days.

Group HUG!!

We had such a fun time together, they kids were wild but loved every minute of being together.  Thanks Grammy and Grampy for hosting and Shannon and Ryan for letting us celebrate her birthday despite everything you had going on.  Crazy to think, this time next year will be the twins first birthday!

Madeleine & Evelyn - Happy Birthday Babies!!!!

Well it turns out the twins heard there was going to be party on Sunday for their big sister and they decided they wanted to attend!  Evelyn and Madeleine were born February 10th (Tuesday) in late afternoon via c-section, both babies are currently in the NICU getting a little help but doing fantastic.  It was a rocky road for both babies and many doctor appointments brought very tough news but for right now they are happy and healthy and we are so happy they arrived safely.  Thank you for all of your good thoughts, prayers and well wishes!   Now for pictures because I know that is all you really came to see!  Look at these precious babies!!

4lbs. 8 oz.

4lbs. 4 oz.

Evelyn (2/11/15)

Madeleine (2/11/15)

Congrats to Ryan, Shannon & big sister Caroline!

Life Lately!

All quiet on the blogging front lately, not sure why, perhaps life has been kinda boring lately, I dunno.  Little Miss Caroline turned four this past Sunday, girlfriend got a new bike for her birthday and was a two-wheeling champ in the matter of minutes!  We will be celebrating her birthday as a family on Sunday, hopefully her little sisters will wait to come until we are done celebrating. Speaking of her little sisters, our two chicks are almost 35 weeks, crazy given all of the ups and downs they have had in utero that they have made it that long inside. 

Paddling season is gearing up!  The novice started this past weekend so I went down to the beach to help out steering on Saturday and Sunday, it was crazy busy with over 60 of them there but a lot of fun and a lot of great potential paddlers.  I also am putting together a crew for the Na Pali Challenge in Kauai this summer, I was not planning on going to Hawaii again this summer but now I am, so if you are looking to paddle in a fun coed race let me know!

Work has been really really really busy lately but all good at the same time. Do you like the cover of our new brochure?  I was tasked with designing the front cover, not bad for my first time if you ask me!  These are the photos that will be used and the layout, but I chose not to include the final product to keep where I work private.  I am so not a photographer and I used my cheapy no frills point and shoot camera to take the pictures, so please don’t judge. 

 I had someone contact me about teaching a DancerCise class, have you heard of it, ya me either.  When talking to her on the phone I had to clarify several times that she wanted to teach DanceCise not Jazzercise.  After I hung up with her I laughed and asked a couple of my coworkers if they had ever heard of DancerCise, they all said no and one asked if I meant PrancerCise?  She continued to tell me about PrancerCise and how it was actually an exercise program, all I could imagine was a bunch of gay guys dancing around (sorry, this not meant to be mean in any way and I believe in equal rights for all) or a bunch of deer frolicking in a forest.  Just in case you wanted to know what PrancerCise is I posted a YouTube video for your viewing pleasure, you are welcome.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, I think Cupid took a wrong turn in my life, but whatev’s I still love the holiday, it is just so sweet with all of the red, pink and hearts everywhere.  Every year Starbucks designs a Valentine’s Day cup and this year they kept it sweet and simple with just a few hearts on the side of the cup.  

Super Bowl Sunday!

I had really great intentions about posting this yesterday but sleep won!  Not sure what is going on but I have been dog tired all weekend long, I am even yawning typing this and I went to bed around 6:15pm yesterday, it was wonderful, thinking about doing that again tonight.  Super Bowl Sunday was great, I am so not a football fan, but I have to say that it was a really good game, I try to root for the underdog but since I had no idea who that was I went with who was losing at the end of the first quarter, so that was the Seahawks!  The Sheriff and I were lucky enough to be kid free on Sunday morning (any of you who have never dated someone with a child has no idea how glorious kid free time is), so we went paddling.  It was so nice to be out on the water, we spent some time catching waves, chit chatting about life, talking paddling techniques, poking fun at each other about our unique personality traits and just playing because there is absolutely no need to even attempt to get a good long workout in when you are as out of shape as I am.  After our “workout” we went and picked up Mr. Pie from his friend’s house, he had a sleepover the night before and I hardly think there was any sleep going on.  Once we got in the car Mr. Pie was suffering from his post sleepover hangover, oh I remember those days, the fun is over, you have had zero sleep and now you are home with nothing to do and you are grouchy, thankfully I was able to leave and the Sheriff had to deal with that.  We were invited to a Super Bowl Party at one of the Sheriff’s friends’ houses and it was a lot of fun, everyone was so nice and welcoming and I really enjoyed hanging with them.  I was kind of dreading it because I did not really know these people and the last time I went into a situation like this was at a 2 year olds birthday party and the hostess was a total B*&^# to me, I am guessing because I am the new girlfriend and not the ex-wife who she was good friends with and she made it perfectly clear that I was not welcome, that was pretty awesome.  Anywho, we had a great time, we did not want to show up empty handed so Pioneer Woman to the rescue!  I made a yummy queso dip; it was my first time cooking with Velveeta, next to the crock pot I have to say that stuff kind of scares me.  I looked for it in the cheese aisle at the market and it turns out it does not need to be refrigerated and it was in aisle #1, that is just gross and when you chop it up in blocks it is like a rubber ball, but goodness it sure melts into some gut clogging yummy goodness.  We ate, drank and lost money, but it was a good time and I hope we get to do it again next year.  The recipe I used can be found here, I substituted ground beef for the breakfast sausage cause that stuff is nasty and I threw mine into the crockpot since we were going to be traveling with it.  

Hope you all enjoyed game day despite that horrible half-time show!