Time warp

I FINALLY downloaded our pictures from June and July. Yes, I am THAT far behind. Now I have to go through them and post the best ones. I can't comprehend where all the time has gone. Trying to get anything done with two VERY active three year olds is darn near impossible. Please bear with me, I promise to have a blog update soon! ...with pictures too!

Who's the boss??

The cubs were sitting of the floor playing together last week. It was really a nice thing to watch. I heard several "here you go"s and "thank you"s, which made me smile. Then something went very wrong. A squabble broke out, Emily stood up, put one hand on her hip, pointed to the corner, and said, "Zach, corner!". UH OH!! Then she repeated it, with emphasis. "Zach, CORNER!" To my dismay, my sweet, little man got up and went to his time-out corner. So I quickly went to him, told him he wasn't in trouble, and explained that only Mom and Dad could put him in the time-out corner. Big Sister is not the boss!! Sorry, Emily.

I don't even know what I've missed!

Wow, it's bad when you are so far behind in blogging that you don't even know what you've forgotten to blog about. I'm sure Steve will read this and present me with a long list of things I forgot. His memory is better than mine.

I think I'll start with the present and try to work my way backwards. We had a very enjoyable Fourth of July weekend. Our friends, Kristi and JJ, came to visit. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them. They had tickets to the Rangers game on Sunday evening, so we went to Heather and Greg's house across the street to watch the fireworks. They have 3 year old twin boys so it was fun watching the kiddos play together. Zach loved the fireworks. Emily was a little afraid of them. We were really close and they were pretty loud. She had her head buried in her hands or in Daddy's shoulder most of the time. Cubs were super exhausted on Monday. Emily even asked to go "night-night" early. WHAT????

Don't drink the water here. That's what I'm going to tell everyone who visits. In addition to Heather and Greg's twins, another set of 3 year olds is moving in 4 houses down from us, and another set is due just around the corner from us. That's four sets of twins practically within arms length of each other. It is going to be fun watching the cubs grow up with so many kiddos in our age group around.

I found a summer preschool for the cubs. You have no idea how momentous this announcement is. I thought I could handle the summer, but it was quickly evident that I was way in over my head. They were cranky, I was cranky. Cub Central was CRANKY. So now they go on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I think they are really enjoying it. I know I am. Even if I do nothing at all but sit at home and absorb the silence. It only lasts six weeks but I think it is our saving grace. I don't think we could have made it through the summer without it. Mom can only paint so many times in one day. That is Emily's current favorite activity. Paint, paint, paint. She loves it. She can sit at the table and paint for 30 minutes. I am not complaining about this! I think this is AWESOME! My complaint is that her twin counterpart can only paint for 30 seconds. So for over 29 minutes I have to listen to whining and moaning and complaining. I would love for him to do his own activity but he is a little attached to Mommy right now and for obvious reasons I can't leave Emily alone with the paint. I already have a newly decorated chair cover. So there is this constant need to be going in two directions at once. I can't seem to please them both, so summer Preschool to the rescue.

Grandma and Grandpa Bear were here two weekends ago (even though it feels like two months ago). They volunteered to cubsit while Steve and I took a mini-vacation. It was the first time Steve and I had been away from the cubs together. We stayed two nights at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. We stayed in a villa right off the 18th green. Steve was acting like a little boy on Christmas morning. He got to play two rounds of golf while I made good use of the spa. I even took a few naps and enjoyed reading a book poolside. It was amazing. I only called to check up on the cubs a few times. I thought I did pretty well.

We purchased a cedar play set for the cubs, complete with swings, a slide, a rock wall, and a fort. Grandpa Bear came a day early to help us install it. We are now waiting on a few replacement parts (some were damaged in shipping). I can't wait to get it completed. The swings are up and the cubs love them, but I know the slide will be the biggest hit.

I celebrated my birthday with four of the best girls ever. I had a blast at Brio's! Five girls, four bottles of wine, and the best $2.99 appetizers EVER! Their appetizer special was from 3-7pm and 9-11pm, and yes, we were there to cover both of them. We then topped the night off at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy!

I guess it's time to let Steve tell me everything I left out. I'll make myself a list and cover it in the next post. Next month. That seems to be the posting pattern now. I laughed when I noticed that I posted 118 entries in 2008 and 170 entries in 2009. No chance for that this year....only 39 entries so far and it's already July. Urgh.

More random photos

This is Emily's alter ego. The dress wearing one.

Reading and laughing. Good times!

Our future PGA Pro!

She has it rough, doesn't she??

Summer fun!!

We've really been loving the pool. The cubs love the play ledge with the gushers, but are still uncertain about getting into the actual pool. However, they love riding in the floaties, so I captured a few photos to share. We have been looking into swimming lessons, but most of the 3 year old classes are taught with no parental guardian in the pool and I don't think the cubs are quite ready for that yet. The other classes I have found are "Mommy and Me" type classes, which require one adult per every child, and those won't work for us either since I obviously can't clone myself. Perhaps private lessons are the way to go.

They certainly take after their mom...they love floating in the rafts. Here's proof:

Long overdue

Time to get caught up on our long overdue photo sharing. Here are some pictures from Mother's Day. While the thought was good (I would love this to be a yearly event), the execution leaves a little more to be desired. The cubs still don't like their pictures taken, so here is all we could get. You'll notice there isn't one of the three of us. Better luck next year!

URGH!!! Photo frustration!

I have made several attempts to blog, but for some reason I am unable to upload photos from my laptop. It is so frustrating because I have so many pictures to share...so bear with me until I get my desktop computer set back up.

The first week of June was very busy at Cub Central. We had recently discovered that the carpet padding in our house was not the upgraded carpet padding that we had ordered when the house was being built. The company offered to correct this for no charge. Who knew it would be such an ordeal. We then decided to replace the carpet in the study, living room and dining room with hardwood flooring. That decision required me to take the cubs to Grandma and Grandpa Bear's house for 5 days, mainly to avoid the dust, fumes from the stain/sealant, and to keep the cubs out of everyone's way. Steve ended up taking the week off so that he could "supervise" the two work crews (the carpet padding guys and the hardwood floor guys). They had to move all of our furniture and we had to empty the bookcases, drawers, fragile items, and all electronics. Needless to say, the house now looks like we just moved in. AGAIN. My kitchen table is covered with everything that belongs in my study. My bathroom is full of things that belong in our bedroom. Let's not even discuss what the upstairs looks like. This was really one of the most inconvenient processes ever.

Finally jumping to the point of this post...as soon as I get my desktop set back up (we are now debating whether to leave it in the study or move it upstairs ), I will be downloading some pictures. I have tons to share; summer fun photos, Mother's Day photos, and pictures of the cubs in their new CUB HOUSE (so spoiled) at Grandma and Grandpa Bear's. Plus any other super cute photos I may find on my camera. It's sometimes a surprise to me because Emily still gets her grubby little paws on my camera and starts shooting pictures. I actually commented to Steve that her photos are getting better. I love our little photographer!