Blogging Troubles

So, I remember why my frustration with my blog began.

I have run out of photo space in Picasa, which is where all my photos are automatically uploaded to when I include them in a blog.

If I delete them from Picasa, they disappear from my blog . . . what to do? I don't want to delete to make room for new blogs, because I want my old blogs to stay whole.

Maybe I'm missing something, doing something wrong, but I keep getting error messages. I can't change my blog logo, I can't change my photo banner, I can't include video . . . frustrating!

I tried to make changes and updates for weeks . . . months ago, and threw in the towel. And then the thought of going on my blog became painful, because I couldn't do what I wanted.

And that's my story on why I took a break.

Nothing has changed, still the same frustrations. And that's kind of the story of my life right now. My blog, out of room. My computer, out of room. My phone, out of room. I'm just running out of space with everything!

I'm starting to play around with creating my own blog so that I have my control over design and space. It'll be a VERY long project, but that's one of my projects for 2013. I know I'll be able to figure it out. I just have to be patient and find the time.

So, for now, photos on my blog will be small and minimal because that's all I'm allowed. Unless someone has some advice, maybe I'm missing something.

So, I will continue to write :)

Today They are Three!

It's amazing how fast time goes by.

I can remember nearly every minute of my pregnancy, birth and NICU with the twins. I remember instantly that I could tell them apart. I remember thinking how differently they were from the beginning.

I remember crying as we pulled up to our driveway, when they were finally allowed to come home with us.

I remember it all as if it were yesterday. But it wasn't yesterday, because today they are already little men :)

In a way it makes me sad, to not have a baby around. I think it makes me a little anxious, because I've never had a three year old and not been preparing for another baby or already had one in my arms.

But it's also comforting to know that this is my family. There are no surprises ahead, we are as we are. I would do nothing different, because I am right where I want to be. In the middle of a big family that I never thought I'd have, but someone else knew better and gave it to me :)

We had a great family day. Castiel awoke, climbed in bed next to me and fell back to sleep until Emmitt woke up a half hour later, running down the hall yelling "Mom, I'm fweeee!"

KC and I talked to them about their birthday as we were tucking them into bed the night before. They knew what was coming . . . the cake, the opening of presents and blowing out candles. They also understood that they shared their birthday, no questions about it, they knew that this was 'their' day.

They picked Mac & Cheese and hotdogs for dinner, luckily it's both of their favorite. They ripped through their presents at warp speed. They proudly smiled while we sang Happy Birthday to them (individually this year). And blew out their candles by themselves.

And they both said their thank yous, and really meant them this year :)

Happy Birthday my twin boys!

Love you more then you could imagine.

I can't believe you are already 3 . . . 

I'm Back :)

I know I've been absent for a long time.

But I feel that I've been extra present in my kids lives lately :)  And as a mom, that's what matters most.

I figure that I'm going to start getting back into this in baby steps, because I do miss it.

I thought I'd start with "KID UPDATES"

Zoe is loving school. She started the school year teary eyed, because the middle school splits up the all the kids into two groups . . . GOLD and GREEN. Of course, all her friends were in green and she was put in gold. And I really do mean all her friends, I felt bad for her. But this week she came home with a "best friends" ring and the biggest smile ever. And just yesterday she told me "I have the best group of friends I've ever had", which I couldn't be happier for her :) Report cards just came out and she made Honor Roll with straight A's. She also made 4th chair in band, which she informed me that two of the flutist have private lessons "so they don't really count", so in her head, she made 2nd chair :) And she's had her braces and expander installed in her mouth, the day before Halloween . . . bad mommy! But she has been doing great with them, and doesn't seem to mind them.

Audrey isn't loving school as much, but she never has, so that's normal. She's never really had the patience for homework, and I need to just slow her down. She was upset when she didn't make the yearbook club, but the following week a sheet came home to sign up for student council. I told her that student council was probably a better fit for her anyways, so we sat down to fill out the questionnaire to get her in. The first question: Why do you want to be in student council? Audrey: Because I didn't get into yearbook club and I have nothing else to do. Me: No Audrey. We came up with some better answers together and she was jumping up and down when she came home with the news that she made it in. She has also made it into art club and band this year, so she's keeping busy. She picked the clarinet, hoping to move to the saxophone when she "gets a little bigger" :)

Cameron has been awesome in school. He loves his teacher and the classroom and especially the bus. I noticed changes immediately. He wants to write, he's attempting to sound out words, and he officially counted to 100 by himself today :) He couldn't be prouder of himself, and that's what I love. He has adjusted well to afternoon kindergarten and no naps. He still loves his Donkey Kong Wii game, which he plays much better than me. I've stopped playing with him, because he just yells at me the whole time. And I've been watching his relationship grow with his brothers. With the twins talking so much their imaginations are great to watch when the three of them play. They come up with the best stories together. He is such a good big brother, that is, expect for the times he has one of them pinned to the ground.

Emmitt is getting to be visibly bigger than Castiel. At this point, strangers are surprised that they are twins. He uses his size advantage on Castiel at times, but usually, he has his little brother's back. He looks like the toughie, but really he's a teddy bear at heart. He still loves his bo-bo (blanket) and carries it around like Linus, I just don't let him leave the house with it. He does have a sharp temper, his favorite word these days is "FINE!", with a cross of the arms and a stomp of the feet . . . and then he's put directly into timeout. He "humpfs" better than any of my kids, and it's usually because I won't let him play the iPod, iPad or DS, which are all of his favorite things. It's amazing how good he is at them all, he learns and improves on the games himself, and he'd play them constantly if I let him. He no longer says "hi" to dad when he gets home . . . "can I play your iPad?"

Castiel is the youngest and smallest and he acts like it too. He enjoys cuddling and being taken care of. He likes things done for him. He has a normal voice and a little voice. He uses the little voice to his advantage and we all know it. But we can't help but adore him, little voice + big eyes + a little tilt of the head = anything he wants. Not always, but I laugh when he does it to the girls and they say no, but then give in from the absolute cuteness :) He has turned "okay" into "k k" and when he's hungry he says "my tummy isn't fill anymore". He turns everything into cute.

So that's a quick little update on the kids.

I'll try and stick around again for a while :)

Upcycled/Updated Project of my Week

I have a new addition to my wall.

I started with an oak frame that I haven't used for a while.

Look at my adorable little girls. My sweet little three year old Zoe with my chubby little pre-one year old Audrey :) Did I forget to comb her hair??? No, her hair always looked like that. Oh, how I wish I would have put a headband with a big bow on her head. (like little Ella)

And then got a 24 x 24 inch board from Menard's. It cost me under $3.00 (that's all I spent on this project, I had everything else)

Since opening a Pinterest account, I can no longer just hang a picture frame on the wall. It just doesn't seem right. There are so many great ideas, that I decided to try one out. Since we are renting and I can't paint my walls, I might as well paint my frames : )

So I got out my paints.

And I went into my house painting bin to look for blue tape, but I found something so much better.

A drywall tape. Created a fun texture. I white washed the board first.

Then, I used brown to create depth, texture and tonal differences to the board.

Then I did the same thing, only using colors.

Then came the fun part. And yes, the girls looked at me like I was crazy. It was fun . . . "tilt your head more, nice smile please, I see only ears, keep your eyes open, look sweet, sweeter please, heads together". It was a fun little photo shoot.

I wanted to recreate the old photo . . . the girls are getting SO big, so fast.

This one is probably the closest recreation. Cheesy, closed mouth smile. But Audrey couldn't seem to open her eyes and close her mouth at the same time . . . it was pretty funny. She teased that she should put tight socks on her feet for a while so she would have the ankle marks, LOL.

They both are looking so big! Where did my baby girls go?

I love how they are gazing off into space. In the original photo, I know that's exactly where I was standing, trying to get them to smile for the photographer.

And I didn't take a picture of my spray paint experiment, but I "made my own spray paint", again, Pinterest inspired. It worked. 2 parts water to 1 part paint in a spray bottle and shake. It took longer to dry, and I don't think it would be very durable, but worked for this project.

That's how I turned the oak frame blue.

With a couple of tweaks to the photo, enlarged and turned into a sepia. I'm pretty happy with my final result. I don't really like the texture framing of the photo, so I might reprint it without.

So this was my recycled project, that also became my painting project for the week : )

Now I'm going to have to make a few more!!!

(Please ignore the sponge-painted walls, it wasn't me and I haven't gotten permission to change them yet. Maybe a nice taupe, brown or even a creamy off white . . . imagine a different background.)