Jeff and I are bookaholcs. We go to the library at least twice a month and I go weekly with the babies. Our library is not close, it is about a 20-25 minute drive and is a pain in the booty to make so often with the babies. I was SO excited when they started building the new library 3 minutes from my house. It wasn’t supposed to be completed until the spring, but they finished early and had their grand opening last weekend. Of course we had to go check it out first thing.

I was SO excited to see it. And I am so disappointed in what I saw. The library itself is nice. It has GIANT tall ceilings, HUGE windows letting in lots of natural light, rows and rows of books.

Why am I disappointed then you ask? Because they have no childrens area. They have a storytime room which will be nice, but no little kid tables, chairs, puzzles, and whatnot. Our other library has a section for the kids to do puzzles, read, play, etc. The new library has no area at all for the little ones. **Clarification - the library does have a big area of childrens books, just no area for them to sit and read them or do puzzles, color, etc. Boooo. They do however have a coffee machine that I’m sure I’ll make good use out of.

You can go here to see our Library Mini Session. It wasn’t at all planned, I just happened to have my camera and Shenzie decided she wanted to pose for me. How could I possibly resist that cuteness?!?

When the babies were 10 months old I took my first solo vacation to see one of my oldest friends in Hood River, Oregon. After booking my ticket I started to have major anxiety over leaving. I almost didn’t go. I mean, was I crazy leaving my tiny babies for 3 days!??! And then I went and OMG, I had SO MUCH FUN. I could have stayed a day longer even. Jeff and the babies did wonderful and in the end I was SO glad I went. It was a much needed break and I came back refreshed and rejuvenated.

When the babies were 18 months old I took my second solo vacation to see one of my best friends in San Diego. While I did have fun it just wasn’t the same. When I went to Hood River it was just us girls, no kids at all. We played, drank, ate, played, and played. When I went to San Diego I stayed with my girlfriend and her family including two children. The entire trip I missed my babies so much and in the end it wasn’t the much needed break I desired.

My girlfriend Julie who lives in Hood River was trying to get me to visit this winter to go snowboarding. While it sounded super fun I just wasn’t quite there yet. Leaving the babies again, Jeff taking time off, flying into snow. Nope, not feeling it. And then I had a really rough day with the babies. In the midst of the rough day my girlfriend called and told me all the snow melted and the weather was SO nice. She had been to Mt. Hood that weekend and it was SO MUCH FUN. And then what do you think I did?!? I went online and booked my ticket to visit. And what do you think I’m doing now?!? Freaking out over said booking? Nope, I am freaking out over how excited I am. While I do hate to leave the babies I need a break. I am with them 24/7. And as much as I love them to death, as happy as they make me, I need a break. I’m tired, I’m frustrated, and I’m ready for a little “me” time. So internet, when the days pass and it gets closer to me leaving and I start freaking out, please, please remind me that it is ok to leave.

We’ve entered another level of terribleness here at the old Casa de’ Barr. What I thought was the terrible twos was really just a small preview of what was to come. I am certain every child goes through this phase and all of the moms out there survived, so at least I don’t have that to worry about. I WILL survive, but OH MY HEAVENS, the gray hairs I will have. Of course with twins it adds a totally different meaning to terrible twos. When one might be having a good day the other certainly isn’t. The constant fighting over toys, fighting over just about anything for that matter is enough to drive anybody insane.

The testing of EVERYTHING is in full force. Shenzie goes out of her way to antagonize Heaten daily. A little sample of the daily crazy:

Shenzie gets in Heatens face. Heaten cries (little baby).
Me: Shenzie - get out of your brothers face.
Shenzie: Moves in to Heatens face as close as she can without actually touching it.
Me: Shenzie, thats 1 (we’ve started 1-2-3 Magic)
Shenzie: Runs away giggling only to run back a second later and get right up in Heatens face.
Heaten: EHHHHHHH EHHHHHHHHH.
Me: Shenzie, thats 2 (which is ridiculous to have to use time out to stop the madness, but seriously she does this ALL DAY LONG to him).
Shenzie: Runs away giggling only to run back over a second later and hit my leg.
Me: Shenzie, if you do that again you’re in time out.
Shenzie: Laughs and pokes her finger on my head, then my eye, then my nose.
Me: Trying not to laugh at the memory of “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you with my finger a centimeter away from my brothers face.

At first it was just Shenzie that was psycho crazy. Now my little Angel Heaten is starting in with the testing, hitting, pushing, screaming at the top of his lungs. I tell you, that little man can scream!!!! They certainly don’t tell you when you sign up for motherhood that your patience needs to grow by about a zillion in order to keep it with crazy babies.

So I married I geek. Don’t worry, I knew this about Jeff before we were married. As a matter of fact, it is one of the things that attracted me to Jeff. What can I say, I <3 my geek. I'm more of a nerd. A book worm if you will, but I do love my computers. When I met Jeff I had a dinosaur of a computer with dial up internet. He just laughed and laughed at me. A few years back he finally convinced me to get a new computer and of course Cable Internet. Whew, I was really missing out so I had to thank him for bringing me into the 21st century.

Then he laughed at my little 17″ monitor and told me I needed a bigger monitor. No, make that TWO bigger monitors. Of course I scoffed and told him it was not necessary, what would I ever need two monitors for? Then he got me two 22″ Monitors and I realized I was really missing out so I had to thank him for showing me the light. Then he suggested I needed a laptop for downstairs. Ha, silly man, why would I ever need another computer downstairs when my computer upstairs with my two giant monitors is the bizzity bomb?!?!? And then he got me the unnecessary laptop. Once again I had to thank him for showing me the error of my ways and showing me just how wonderful having a laptop is.

So let’s see. So far we have one bizzity bomb computer with two giant monitors and one laptop. Lets add to that my husbands bizzity bomb computer with a giant monitor, his laptop, two or maybe five other towers hiding in the garage, two other laptops hiding in the closet and the newest addition to our computer family, a Mac Book Pro. Do you think we have an addiction? Do we need help? Somebody send in the interventionist, for the computers are taking over!!!

With all of the geek around here it is pretty much a given our children will follow in our geeky/nerdy footsteps. One of the babies favorite things to do is sit on my lap and look at pictures on the computer. We sit and read our daily round of blogs, watch baby videos, look at all of your pictures every morning.

Here you see Heaten “talking” on his phone while emailing his best bud on his computer. As you can see he is already very good at multi tasking. I wonder where he learned this from?

Passport Photo Edition:

Canada here we come!! Don’t worry Mom, we’re not moving yet, this is just a visit for Great Grandmas’s 90th Birthday!!

Much bribery was used to get them to smile for the camera while holding still and looking straight ahead. Not as easy as it may seem.

The guidelines say no shadows on the face or background. Do you think the babies photos have too much shadow in the background on the left side?

They want photos at least 6 months current…do you think they’ll notice that I have 5 less gray hairs and 3 less wrinkles in the photo of me from 7 months ago?

Since apparently this week is all about me I thought I’d continue the trend and rant about my recent loves and hates.

I love:
*Long weekend showers. During the week my showers are rushed in the mornings before Jeff goes to work or rushed with the babies in the bathroom with me tearing the place apart. Weekend showers followed by a mini pedicure and facial…ahhhhh. The little things.

*That Scrubs is back on tv. Courtney Cox is now on the sitcom which is good because I like her, but bad because I really liked her show Dirt.

*My new camera and lens that were an early Christmas present. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

*Las Vegas winters. Todays high is 56 degrees, tomorrow 60…kind of like its not even winter. While everybody else is huddled down stuck at home due to the cold and snow we were outside taking a nice long walk in nothing but long sleeves and jeans. Sigh, there are some things I will miss about Las Vegas.

*Warm Sheets. Jeff will lay on my side of the bed and warm it up before I get in at night.

*Long naps.

Totally unrelated photo. Me (on the left holding Shenzie, Stacey, the baby sister, Ang, the middle sister, and if you look really hard you can see Invisible Kristy, the other middle sister. Look alike much?

I Hate:
*Broken microwaves. Seriously, it seems I am a microwave addict and not having one even for one day sucked! I bought an el cheapo mini microwave at Wal*mart to get me by until our part comes in (magnetron).

*Seeing a movie before reading a book. I NEVER see the movie first and the books are ALWAYS better. The one exception to this was ‘The Children of Men’ by P.D. James, I actually liked the movie better. So anyway…I love Jeffrey Deaver’s books and The Broken Window was no exception. The only problem was the two main characters Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs were the same characters in The Bone Collector (book and movie). So when reading the newest book all I could picture were Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie (which really isn’t the worst thing in the world), but still annoying.

*Canceled Tv shows. Lipstick Jungle Season Finale is Friday and won’t be back next season.

*Two pounds. The amount I gained over the holidays. The daily chocolate I consume isn’t helping matters.

*Our heating unit. The upstairs is hot while the downstairs is FREEZING!

*Short Naps.

I don’t make New Years Resolutions. I’m of the camp that if something needs done then do it. And really, most resolutions get broke anyhow so why bother. I have been working towards my goal of getting more organized for the last couple of months. In a non resolution way I will continue to try to get my house, my time, and my kitchen organized.

My goals are:
*Plan out meals a week at a time and try new recipes.
*Plan out at least one new learning activity a week for the babies.
*Balance my checkbook weekly (right now it is semi monthly). I feel if I pay more attention to the checkbook then I can monitor more what we’re spending and try to save more.
*De-clutter the house (I’ve already started on this beginning with packing up six boxes of hard back books which barely made a dent in the great wall o books).
*I would love to throw exercise on here, but really, let’s get real. I HATE to exercise and this is one of those resolutions/goals that will get broke in the first month.

Of course along with all of these goals are the dailies. Be a patient Mother. Be a loving, supportive wife. Be a good sister, daughter, and friend.

Then we have my professional goal. Take great photographs that my clients will love and cherish forever.

Whew, I better get hopping!

2008 Book Listing

January

The Good guy ¤ Dean Koontz **** ½
Blood Thirsty ¤ Marshall Karp *****
Beyond Reach ¤ Karin Slaughter *****
Monster ¤ Jonathan Kellerman *** ½
The Shotgun Rule ¤ Charlie Houston *** ½

February

Hard Case ¤ Dan Simmons *****
Half the Blood of Brooklyn¤ Charlie Houston **** ½
Hard Freeze ¤ Dan Simmons *****
See Jane Die ¤ Erica Spindler ****
Hard As Nails ¤ Dan Simmons *****

March

You’ve Been Warned ¤ James Patterson ** ½
Quickie ¤ James Patterson **
Killer Takes All ¤ Erica Spindler *** ½
The Other Boleyn Girl ¤ Philippa Gregory *****
Odd Mom Out ¤ Jane Porter **** ½
Water For Elephants ¤ Sara Gruen *****
Lemons Never Lie ¤ Richard Stark ***

April

The Other Mother ¤ Gwendolen Gross **** ½
Beautiful Lies ¤ Lisa Unger *****
Over Her Dead Body ¤ Kate White *** ½
Eat, Pray, Love ¤ Elizabeth Gilbert **** ½

May

Sliver of Truth ¤ Lisa Unger ****
Rose Madder ¤ Stephen King ****
Hide ¤ Lisa Gardner ****
Kill Me ¤ Stephen White **** ½
Play Dirty ¤ Sandra Brown ** ½
Twilight ¤ Stephanie Meyer *** ½
Black Out ¤ Lisa Unger ****

June

The Best Revenge ¤ Stephen White *** ½
The Ice Queen ¤ Alice Hoffman ****
The Sex Lives Of Cannibals ¤ J. Maarten Troost *****
Blinded ¤ Stephen White *** ½
Spades ¤ Michael Marshall Smith **** ½

July

Missing Persons ¤ Stephen White ***
Getting Stone with Savages ¤ J. Maarten Troost *****
New Moon ¤ Stephanie Meyer ***
Lethally Blonde ¤ Kate White *** ½

August

The Intruders ¤ Michael Marshall ****
Creation in Death ¤ J.D. Robb ***
Eclipse ¤ Stephanie Meyer *** ½
The Straw Men ¤ Michael Marshall ****
Breaking Dawn ¤ Stephanie Meyer *** ½

September

The Memory of Running ¤ Ron McLarty ****
7Th Heaven ¤ James Patterson ***
Double Cross ¤ James Patterson ***
The Spellman Files ¤ Lisa Lutz ****
The Winter of Frankie Machine ¤ Don Winslow ****
Duma Key ¤ Stephen King *****

October

Curse of the Spellmans ¤ Lisa Lutz *** ½
Strangers in Death ¤ J.D. Robb *** ½
Hold Tight ¤ Harlan Coben *** ½
Phantom Prey ¤ John Sandford ** ½

November

Certain Girls ¤ Jennifer Weiner ***
Remember Me ¤ Sophie Kinsella ***
Odd Hours ¤ Dean Koontz ** ½

December

Devil Bones ¤ Kathy Reichs *** ½
Heartsick ¤ Chelsea Cain *****
Bones ¤ Jonathan Kellerman *** ½
Sail ¤ James Patterson ** ½

59 total books which is down 8 from 2007. Now that the babies are down to one nap I never read while they are sleeping which would account for less books read this year. Back in the day of two naps I would read and drink my coffee during their first nap, nowadays I edit photos or work on business stuff while they sleep.

I bolded the books that I gave 5 stars (which wasn’t many) if anybody is interested in reading them. They (the 5 stars) were all fantastic books (in my opinion, I’m sure my husband would disagree). =) My goal for 2009: read better quality books. I see a lot of garbage on my list that I’m sure I could have lived without.

Dear Shenzie and Heaten,

Since your Mother is apparently a big, lazy loser I never got around to finishing your Two Years Two Months post. Ooops. Sorry guys, I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I give you an M&M or two. In fact, you’ll do anything for two M&M’s. Get dressed, stop fighting, eat one more bite, sit on the potty. M&M’s go a long way in our house. And before Daddy reads this and has a heart attack that OMG I’M GIVING YOU TOO MUCH CANDY, rest assured you only get 2 M&M’s every couple of days. Daddy thinks Mommy feeds you sugar all day, but as you well know, this is not the case (although you wish it was!).

As usual this month has brought on loads of new things. If I watch closely enough I might even be able to see you grow. You are still in the fighting stage. Hitting, pushing, biting, yelling, and stealing toys, are all the norm around here. Time outs have become much less effective since it seems one of you is always headed there or threatened to go there. Other than the constant struggle to keep my patience with your new found independence life with you both is amazing. You are both so sweet, loving, happy, funny, and wonderful. You learn new things daily and I am so thankful I am home to see it.

One of the funnest new things is the ouch kisses. If one of you gets hurt I can now make it better by giving it a kiss. You stop crying and life is good again. The funny thing is the one that didn’t get hurt starts play crying and saying they are hurt too in the same spot. So I then give them a kiss to make it better. This is a GREAT way to get more kisses from you. You will also kiss my ouchies away and since I am so clumsy I get lots of kisses.

Dear Shenzie Buggle,

Running! Standing! Spinning! Dancing! Jumping! Laughing! Playing! All of your favorite things!! You are a bundle of energy, always on the go. Everyday more and more of your silly personality shows itself. You are constantly doing things to make us laugh. Your newest thing is singing. You LOVE to dance and now you’ve added singing to the mix. We have little dance performances every morning where we belt our hearts out while dancing. Truth be told it is probably a VERY scary sight indeed.

On the flip side of making me laugh all of the time you are also constantly testing every single thing. ALL.DAY. LONG. You will swat right in front of my face over and over again almost like when I was little and I would put my finger right next to Uncle Daniel’s face and say “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you”. Only I was older and understood what I was doing. It is scary that at 2 you are already producing this behavior. Grandma Jan just looks at me and laughs. Apparently you are a mini me and she has seen it all before.

You are very addicted to me and are still wary of strangers, especially men. In the store if a man looks at you or dares talk to you THE NERVE! you will glare at them or promptly burst into tears. You’re not old enough yet to use the “tear card”, but it works every time. The poor men (and women) don’t know what to do, they are so upset that they made this cute little girl cry.

New This Month:

You have added black, brown, and white to your colors (two years two months) At two years three months you pretty much know all of your colors
You can count to 3 and understand 1,2,3 (two years two months) At two years three months you can go to 10 with a little help
Nose kisses
Bribery - I can now bribe you with lollies, M&M’s, or other treats when we’re out and you get all crazy.

You still love all of the same things as last month:
I am moving HATS to slot #1
Puzzles
Purses
Chap stick
Moving including jumping, dancing, spinning, running, and kicking
Antagonizing Heaten
Pink and Purple
Walks in the wagon and stroller
Dead leaves
Repeating things a GAZILLION times
Bows, necklaces, bracelets

You don’t like:
Me singing - you tell me no
My wet hair
My hair left down - you want it pinned up all day

You are growing up to be such a fun, funny, happy, crazy little girl. I love you to bits and bites.

Love,
Mama

Dear Heaten,

My little cuddle buddy. You are such a sweet, smiling, cuddly boy. You are so sweet and loving to me, your Daddy, and many times now even your sister. It melts my heart when you give her love or pat her back when she is crying. My favorite thing is to tickle you or chase you around and hear your deep belly laugh. Without fail every time you laugh hard you get the hiccups. You still love to sit on Daddy’s lap and drink your milk. You love cuddle time and ask for lap all of the time. We are working on your talking and you are getting better, but can be pretty lazy when it comes to using your words. You love to hug and hold Shenzie’s hand and cry when she doesn’t want to play along.

You are not shy at all when it comes to new things or new people. You are very independent and love to “play” with the older kids at the park. You love to read, play in your kitchen, watch Elmo, and play outside with rocks.

New this month:
Counting with lots of help to 10
Talking more
Asking for “Me Me Me” meaning you want to go with me
No way. This is so cute, instead of saying no you always say No Way

You Love:
Tickles
Reading
Drawing/coloring
To copy what Shenzie is doing
Tool toys
Holding my hand and walking me places
Cousin Trever
Walks in the wagon and stroller
Milk
Hiking with Daddy
Playing in the snow
Elmo

You don’t like:
Trying new foods
Vegetables
Sharing
Eating with a fork by yourself
My singing or dancing

You are growing up so fast, I love to watch you learn new things. You are my big boy and I love you to bits and bites.

Love,
Mama

As the Years Pass Edition:

Once upon a time there was this GIGANTIC baby house (33 weeks):

Then POP! goodbye giant belly, hello tiny tots:

October 2006

And then they grew into little babies:

January 2007

February 2007

May 2007

And then they grew into little toddlers:

September 2007

November 2007

March 2008

And they grew into big kids:

July 2008

September 2008

December 31 2008

December 31 2008

I can’t wait to see the many changes of my big kids in 2009!!