The Twinzies had their first day of Preschool today. I cried. I had such anxiety this week over sending them. I mean, I know they are 4.5 and will be in Kindergarten next year, and they went to preschool in Las Vegas for a few months, but still, they are my babies. We visited their new school last week and they had so much fun. Heaten saw the Thomas the Train table and that was that…he was sold. Shenzie was a little more hesitant and didn’t leave my side the entire time. I’ve been hyping it up all week and they were both so excited, but upon arriving Shenzie started to get a little scared. For as boisterous, outgoing, and independent as she is, she has a very sensitive and shy side. My heart broke for her, but I know she’ll end up loving it and cry when she has to come home. So yes, 10 hours of sweet, sweet freedom every week!! This feels like such a luxury, and I’m going to love every minute!!!

A few photos from our “test” day at Preschool last week.

My Sweet and Crazy Edition:

Can you guess who is the sweet and who is the crazy? =)

A Happiest of Mother’s Day to all of the Mama’s I know, and an extra special wish to my amazing Mom. I love you.

Happy Easter Edition:

We had an awesome Easter….x2! The Twinzies were so lucky they had not one but two egg hunts, as well as fun times dying eggs at their BFF’s house. The first hunt was an Easter Party at a friends house where they enjoyed cupcakes, candy, rice crispie treats, and of course eggs filled with goodies. The next morning we had our family hunt in the backyard (while dodging the rain), where they scored again. As you can see from the HUGE smiles above, Easter was a success.

**Yes, I realize Easter was last weekend, but whatev…this was the soonest I could get these up. =)

If you’ve followed this blog for awhile you know the twinzies birth was less than ideal, their 16 and 21 day NICU stay was brutal (not to mention expensive!), and some issues early on (RSV, delayed development, etc.) made life with twins even more stressful. Luckily we survived their first year, which as any mother of multiples will tell you, that is a HUGE accomplishment. When the twinzies were 2 they were released from Nevada Early Intervention which was such a relief.

As far as development, they are on track for their age, but they both have issues with quite a few letters and our Pedi was concerned they might need speech therapy. She sent us a referral to St. Charles where I was informed our insurance would not cover any of the therapy (our insurance is kind of sucky). My mind was then blown out of my head when she said the initial consultation was $250 and each hour of therapy thereafter would be $150 (I think, if not, it was even higher). Ummm, no thank you. I was in speech through the school system in Idaho because I couldn’t say my r’s. I figured the twinzies would have to wait until Kindergarten to get therapy, if they even needed it at that point. Enter my awesome friend Tara who works with children and knows the system inside and out. She gave us the number to Alice Hatch where they do FREE evaluations and FREE therapy in many areas of development (I’m assuming this is similar to the Early Intervention we had in Vegas). Yesterday they send out a specialist to our house (so convenient), and spent about an hour with Shenzie and Heaten going over all areas of development. As of now they are on target and doing great in all development areas with the exception of speech. The initial evaluation shows they both qualify for speech therapy, so we now have an appointment (again FREE) with an Audiologist to make sure their hearing is good and from there they will start our weekly, 2.5 hour therapy (where I do not have to stay, coffee anyone?). =) Of course I’m bummed they have to go to therapy, but I’m so, so happy that they are able to get the help they need without forking over thousands of dollars. So yay Alice Hatch and Tara for being so awesome!!!

On a completely different side note, I broke down and made a dr. appt. with an orthopedic specialist for tomorrow to have the gimpy ankle looked at. I’m starting to get a little concerned that it might be broke, and/or I’m messing it up worse by not going in.

Lame Las Vegas. I was actually a little excited for my trip last week, not only to see my family and friends, but to soak up some Vitamin D. I am SO over our weather here in Bend. It is mid April and I woke to snow this morning. So, so not cool. But I digress, lets get back to Las Vegas. Every thing started off well and good. Plane ride was easy, car rental easy, dinner with my family was fun. I loved seeing all of my nieces and nephews and how big they’ve grown. I had scheduled three sessions while I was there so Friday was pretty much filled up with work and a fun lunch with old friends. Friday night was my sister Stacey’s big 30th Birthday Bash and we were all dolled up and ready to party!! The party was held at an amazing mansion full of amazingness. I mean, seriously awesome. Delicious food, lots of yummy drinks, good music, rad people. It was seriously fun. That is, until “the incident”. I was “whoot whooting” it up in the front yard when CRASH! SMACK! OUCH! I fell down a stair, crumbling to the ground.

With the help of my brother I hobbled back to the party ready to get my drink on again. The alcohol must have dulled the pain because for about 5 minutes I carried on as if nothing had happened. As the minutes continued to tick past I realized my ankle was really hurting so I sat down to get a look at the damage. I was not at all prepared for what I saw {and I’ll say nobody else was either}. My ankle was seriously swollen, like a huge potato had grown out the side of my foot. I immediately started crying, because seeing my ankle messed up so bad made the pain worse. Instead of getting my party on I was carried to the car {thank you Bradley} and put to bed with ice, pain medication, and a few tears. {thank you Sissy}.

Saturday was supposed to be crammed full of shopping, food, and spa day with my Mom and sisters. Sadly, my ankle was seriously still messed up and I didn’t get to enjoy spa day at all. Trying to hobble through a huge casino/hotel when in pain is not advised. Thank you to my entourage of help getting me through the day, night, and to the airport the next day. Going through a major airport when unable to walk is also inadvisable. Apparently my air cast looked suspicious since airport security pulled me from the line and swabbed the cast as well as a few things in my backpack. Really airport?!?….Me and the 4 year old behind me who also got stopped look real suspicious I’m sure. =(

I have been limping around for over a week now and I’m quite over it. I wanted to take photos of the bruising and swelling since it was INSANE, but I never got around to it so you’re spared the gory photos. =) Yes, I know it could have been much worse, but just let me have my pity party. I can’t drive, go to yoga, ride my bike, or run. So much for my girls mountain bike next week and Happy Girls 5k next month. At this point I can hobble around, but not put much pressure on it. Since our insurance is so sucky I’m really hoping to get out of this without an x ray. I have a walking cast coming tomorrow which will hopefully help, but sheesh, this sucks!

Huge Smiles to Keep the Universe Happy Edition:

So yeah, we are a hot mess at the old Casa de Barr. We all are getting over colds, Daddy has a sinus infection, Shenzie can’t hear due to fluid trapped in her ear due to an ear infection she had over the weekend (while I was in Vegas) that we didn’t even know about, hacking coughs, hurting teeth, and of course gimpy leg (more on that later). I’m hopeful the Universe has dealt out enough drama and life can get back to normal sooner rather than later.

Dear WonderfulAmazingAwesomeSmartSexyCrazy Husband,

You are awesome.
You are wonderful.
You are amazing.

As proof of my extreme love you are still sporting your beard. You know, the beard that you were supposed to shave off on your Birthday, back in February. If that is not love, I’m not sure what is!!

Happy Eight.
I love you!

Shenzie LOVES to jump. She jumps all day, every day. I was taking a trip down memory lane and came across this one from September 2008. She was always a little froggie. =)

And while I’m enjoying memory lane I’ll post a few more fav’s from that month.

Tantrum anyone?

How about two?

Soaking it In:

After wayyyyyyy too many cloudy.rainy.snowy days in a row the sun made a brief appearance this week. In Vegas it is pretty much always sunny so I’ve never had a chance to actually miss it. Boy, oh, boy do I miss it. I seriously just sat in the grass with my socks off and soaked in as much as I could before it disappeared. The twinzies also loved this little break and chance to play outside without freezing our batooties off. Shenzie rolled up her sweats like shorts, shoved up her sleeves and declared it to be springtime!!! What a wonderful and much needed day of play outside, with the sun shining down on us.