What's up?

I'm gonna go ahead and put this out there. I'm just gonna lay it out for everyone to see. Ready for it?? Here it comes.... I'm a comment junky and I'm starvin' here people. So please, drop a few lines and let me know that you're out there watching. M'kay. Thanks. BTW. Love ya!

Now for the goods.

Have I ever mentioned that I really REALLY hate daylight savings time. I mean, I really HATE it!! It's dark when I roll out of bed, the sun is right in my eyes the ENTIRE way to work and I'm to short for the sun visor to be of any help and as if all of this weren't enough, if I leave work late, (and I do most days because I'm not real good at just picking up my things and heading out right at 5) it's already dark enough when I get home that the lights have to be on in the house. I really don't like it. It causes some depression issues for me every year.

So, with all of that said, I had to go pick Eden and the boys up from mom's tonight and this is the spectacular sunset that I caught just before it was to late.

When I shot the picture, I wasn't really paying any attention to anything but the pinks and purples and ever so slightly orange hues of the sky and then I came home and posted this picture to the Serendipity site and it hit me right in the face, just like a sucker punch, that most of the landscape in this picture no longer belongs to a "Smith".

Along with this realization it has occurred to me that Grandma has been gone for four years now. My twins were still growing inside of me when she passed and I remember my mom calling to say that she was slipping away. Sometimes I forget that she's gone and I can't believe it's been four years and that can still happen. Right now, I'm really missing her.

Here's one with some of mom's Christmas decorations and the house in it. I love the lighting and the "skeleton" of the trees.

My kids love this corner of mom's decorations. When we left the house tonight Eden pointed out that it looks like Polar Exp.ress with the small train and the big Christmas tree. I love it that my kids have that bright shining imagination in them, after Eden said that both boys could totally see the same thing. It's so cool to see how their minds work.


I'll try to post some more Gatlinburg pictures tomorrow. For now, here's a few that Louise took while we were at the IHOP.

Boy, you guys weren't kidding about Casey and pictures were you?

In Casey's defense. I kinda love this one of her. She looks so sweet and innocent. I also really love this shot of your mom. It makes me want to be with you guys right now. I've always loved her smile!

I'm not dead!

The title is a nod to Monty Python movies and I felt it appropriate for someone who used to blog every night and hasn't since last Thursday. I've been a little busy and I haven't felt all that great either.

I'm better now and ready to start blogging again.

Mom is much better now. She up and around and feeling good enough to watch my boys again, which is a really great thing. I appreciate that my mother in law is willing to help out at a moments notice, but when the kids are with her, they tend to get away with more than they do when they are with my mom. They railroad the MIL and get away with it because they use those cute little puppy dog eyes and those super cute smiles.

He was being a complete little turd in this picture and look at that smile. I know at least two of you are going, "Ahhh, he's so cute." Yes, he's cute, but it's so that I don't kill him! LOL

And then we have Tyler, who is double trouble, because he has the golden brown eyes perfect for giving puppy dog eyes and the sweet little smile. Thankfully, he is the more well behaved of the two. They have flopped on me several times since they were babies as to who was the easier of the two and who was more laid back. I have a feeling that the personalities are pretty much here to stay at this point. It's probably a good thing, because, for as sweet as Tyler can be, he has a filthy temper and can be down right hateful at times. Luckily he seems to be pretty sweet natured most of the time, because when he's being mean, he's really REALLY mean.

We took the kiddos to the zoo on Saturday. We were going to go with Louise when she was in town, but didn't get to make it because of the nasty weather that was forecast. I'm glad that they went on Thursday and were able to enjoy the nice weather, our outing to the Huber Orchard and a planned visit to the waterfront park was cut short by a nasty storm on Friday. So of course, because we didn't go to the zoo, my kids don't see it as, "we did something fun, we shouldn't beg to go somewhere else too" they have been asking to go ever since and we finally made it over there. Admission to the zoo is astronomical! $11.95 per adult and $8.95 for kids 3 and over. It was going to be $50 to take them in. Instead of paying $50, we paid $75 and go a membership to the zoo. $25. more to go back as many times as we want for the next 365 days starting on Saturday! It was a no brainer!

For the first time since they opened the exhibit, we were able to take the boys into the Lorikeet landing and let them feed the birds some nectar. We took the train down, and right back up after the lorikeets, the big hills in the zoo. I was able to completely avoid them! Yeah me!!!

Here I am feeding the lorikeets. The boys wouldn't hold the nectar cups because they were a little afraid of the birds actually landing on them. They did however, want to pet the pretty little birdies and of course, the trainer had to keep telling them, "Don't touch them, I don't want them to bite you, they don't know that you are nice and don't want to hurt them. They don't like to be petted."
OK, whether you call these guys Zaboo from Zaboombafu or King Julian from Madagascar, these little guys are pretty cute. They had all been taking a nap and the two in the back were just finishing up a big yawn. The one in front was sitting there like that and I just kept waiting for him to do something obscene that I would have to cover eyes up over. Thankfully, it didn't happen and they decided it was time to get up and play.

The newest zoo baby. I don't know if you can zoom in on this picture or not, but if you can, you can see the lioness' in the background sunning on the rock.

For the first time that I can remember, the male lion was out and about in their "pride" and this was taken on the tail end of a big yawn. I guess all the animals were just waking up from nap time when we got there. Here are a few more picture of him that I just love. They are such beautiful and majestic creatures.

I LOVE this shot. I think this is why they call a lion's territory a "Pride"! It's a shame he's a predator, because I really just wanted to climb in there and pet him.

Well, that's all for now. I have more pictures from the trip that I want to post but they will have to wait. Michael is waiting for me so that we can watch American Idol. I want to see if Kris can out sing Adam for the third week in a row! ;o)

My vehicle

My sister in law has been driving a Toyota 4 Runner for a long time. Mike and I have borrowed it on several occasions and I really loved it from the very beginning. I've wanted one since the first time that we took it.

Now, I have a Toyota Sequoia. I LOVE THIS CAR!!! It's a 4 Runner, monster sized! Of course, I have three little monsters I have to haul around in it. It's also nice for times when we want to go out with friends, it seats 8 comfortably! Did I mention I love this car???

Since we bought it, we have discovered a few minor problems, but nothing that I can't live with. For instance, the speedometer says that I am only going 40 when I'm in fact moving 10 miles an hour faster, this is true at all speeds. When I'm going 5 miles an hour, (like this happens anytime other than pulling out of the drive) it doesn't even register that I am moving.

Just last week. I discovered that the drivers side mirror was broken. How could I miss something like a broken mirror you ask? Well. I took it to the car wash on Saturday and Sunday, after it was sunny and warm, I found the mirror broken on the ground, the mirror that was covering the broken mirror. Guess how I fixed this problem. I found a web site that sells pre-cut mirrors, the perfect size, and I did the same exact thing. Here are a few before and after shots.

Not conducive to the "mirror picture method" that Louise came up with. Props to Louise, because, I got this really cute picture of Tyler I'll be sharing in just a sec.

Here's one of me in the newly repaired mirror. My reflection through the open door.

Here's that really cute picture of Tyler. This was the look on his face when he first saw daddy when Mike got back from Bowling Green and the Diesel Drag Races.

And after he found out I was taking pics of him in the mirror.

Stealing from Louise's book again. Here is a picture for today. This is from the rose bush on the corner of my house. We have several folks that drive by our house, just to see if this rose bush is blooming. I gave it to my mother in law for Mother's day a long time ago and it's still blooming like crazy every year.

Family Fun

I'm so excited I got to spend some time with my cousin who's in from Tennessee and her kiddos. Louise, they were all so well behaved and they are absolutly adorable!

I'm pretty impressed with myself too! I actually kept the twins straight all day! I loved it when Natalie came over and started checking my pockets for tokens to ride the tractors. That was so cute!

I can't believe they only had three of these tractors, but they actually did pretty good taking turns. We only had one major meltdown and it was pretty short lived.

He's not real good at sharing, but then again, my boys aren't much on sharing either.

I think the kids really liked feeding the goats. Poor May May was the only one who had a goose mishap. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that area.

Sweet little Conner, thinking about kissing the goat, since that's what his mommy suggested. Then he decided to just pet his ear.
Natalie and Conner getting corn to feed the animals. I think they are feeding the deer in this one.
Tyler petting the baby goat. This one was just his size and stood at the fence and let him pet him for a long time.
Jacob, just like his daddy, always in a hurry to get somewhere. Isn't he precious? Looks just like his daddy!

I love this picture of Regan, she was watching the other kids on the tractors and when I said her name, she turned to me and smiled right before I shot this picture. She knows when there is a camera on her! I also noticed that she is a big helper! She rode with Conner, because he couldn't quite reach the pedal to make it go and she was happy to let him steer while she pushed the button. Such a big girl!

Sweet little Madyson, I don't think she felt very good, but she was so good. I took her to the pedal cars and helped her and Regan go around the track once. The pedal cars are a little to big for the smaller kids, but her and Regan had so much fun, and she didn't even get upset when Regan started saying "I'm winning!" Mady was so sweet, she was happy for her sister.
Eden, the oldest on the trip today, she did so good with the younger kids, here she is waiting patiently for her turn. I know that I am biased because she's mine, but I still think that she is so beautiful. Sometimes, I forget just how pretty she is, and I love days like today, because they bring out the little bit of natural curl left in her hair. Couldn't you just drown in those deep brown eyes?

Here's Louise helping Dalton over the little tractor bridge. This was before the meltdown, when he was still being really good.

And little Mady who was just content to sit in the stroller. I think she actually fell asleep in it not to long after this picture.

Aren't these some of the most precious kids you've ever seen!?! We "Smith" girls sure do make pretty babies! This includes yours Amy, you just weren't here for me to take pictures of them too! I hope you can make it up, or I can make it down there soon and I'll get pictures of your kiddos too! Louise, I have a ton more pictures that turned out so good. I'll send them to you if you want. Just let me know. Here's the last one I want to post. I love the look on Conner's face. Michael took this picture and the look on his face is just so precious!

For Louise

I love to talk about the twins and the experience of being pregnant with them. This picture was taken on February 27, 2005. Almost exactly 13 weeks into my pregnancy with the twins. I look like I'm 6 months instead of three!

We had been trying to get pregnant for a long time so we knew almost immediately when I got pregnant and Eden heard us talking about having another baby. At this point, she had just turned 4. She started telling anyone who would listen, "My mommy's having two babies." I told her every time she said it. "Eden, honey, don't tell people that. Mommy is only having one baby." At which point we would go into the battle (Yes, I actually stood and argued with this child.) This picture was taken about two weeks after we found out that Eden was right. When I went to visit the doctor for the 11th week visit, I told her that I knew I would show earlier with the second pregnancy but I was already wearing maternity pants. She informed me that she was having a hard time keeping track of the baby's heartbeat and asked if I would let her do an ultrasound. She moved me over to the room where they do the ultrasounds (I forgot to mention that Michael and Eden were waiting in the waiting area so that after the doctor found the heartbeat she could bring them back so that they could hear it too.) and they helped me up on the table and I pulled my shirt up to my bra to expose this belly and the second that paddle hit my belly, there they were! Two heads! So the doctor went to get Michael and Eden and she didn't warn either of them that they were going to see an ultrasound. I remember the look on Michael's face. I swear I thought we were going to have to pick him up off the floor. He was so surprised. He left shortly after that to go back to work and he called his dad on the way home from the doctors office. I was still finishing up the check up. By the time I made it out of the Dr's office they had called Uncle Randy and I was getting a call about how excited he was that I was having twins. From that point on it was a free for all inside my belly. I'm one of the lucky few who didn't have to be put on bed rest and I carried the twins to 37 1/2 weeks. 38 is considered full term with twins.

Just look at the size of this thing!!! I was in the Payless shoes about 2 months before I had them, and I had my back turned to the clerk and she came up behind me and asked if she could help me find anything. When I turned to the side and she saw my belly, her jaw dropped. "Oh honey, please tell me that you are not here walking the mall so that you will go into labor. I would just die if you had that baby right here in the store." I had to explain to her that I still had a good two months left and that I would not be having my twins in her store. As you can probably tell by the beautiful hospital bracelet on my wrist, this was taken seconds before I went into the door you see behind me and changed into a hospital gown to be wheeled upstairs and deliver my precious bundles of joy.

In the picture, Jacob on the left, Tyler on the right. I thought they were easy to tell apart. So, no Amy, I never worried that I had them mixed up. I did however, worry all the time that I would love one more than I did the other, or think that one was cuter than the other and would have moments of guilt over it and then I would hold the other twin and feel the same way all over again and I finally discovered that they all three hold a special place in my heart and I truly do not think that one of my children is more beautiful and precious to me than the other, which I'm sure is a feeling that we all relate too.

My room was a zoo! I had my OB/GYN, an intern that was following her for the day, Michael, Mom, Dana, my nurse, Baby A nurse x2, Baby B nurse x2, the epidural guy, (in case you lost count that's 11 already) and by the time I started pushing, I had every nurse on the ward in my room. I think that at last count there were 23 people in my room. None of the nurses, (and the one with the most seniority had been there for 8 years) had ever seen both twins born without one being delivered by c-section.

Tyler was baby A, I pushed him out at 1:15 p.m., that's right, I'll say it again, I pushed him out. No c-section! I remember Michael saying "Oh my God! Look how big he is." He was so cute, he just kept saying it and I finally looked at him and said "I know how big he is, I just pushed him out of me!" The whole room burst out laughing!

Jacob spent the last month and a half of my pregnancy in the breech position, so after delivering Tyler, the Dr. told me I could take a small break and they were going to use the ultrasound to check on baby B. Yup! Still in the breech position. So, while using the ultrasound, they used all that extra belly that was Tyler, and they pushed Jacob around to the head down position. Not to bad, didn't hurt at all because I had the epidural and then.......Jacob decided that his arm should come first. Since this cannot happen because it would break his arm or collar bone,or worse, or break something in me, they had to put the arm back in. I'M POSITIVE THAT NO AMOUNT OF EPIDURAL MEDICATION CAN MASK THE PAIN OF A BABY ARM AND A DOCTORS ARM GOING INTO SOMETHING THAT IS THE SIZE OF LEMON! Jacob was born at 1:33 p.m. 18 min. after his brother. Tyler weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and Jacob was 7lbs 2 oz. 15 lbs of baby in that belly. I still have horizontal stretch marks! Oh yeah. Did I mention I PUSHED THEM BOTH OUT!

We were the talk of the hospital until we went home.

In this picture, Eden, Jacob and Tyler, and mommy of course!

At this point I have to say that I totally agree with Louise, the first year was hell! I love them and they were worth every second of lost sleep but it's not an exaggeration when I say that for the first 6 or 8 weeks we slept in 15 min. intervals. I nursed them, and we tried everything, including nursing them both at the same time and it didn't matter. One would get up and nurse and the other would wake up and cry until the first one was done nursing and then I would put the first one down because he was back to sleep and then nurse baby no. 2 and by the time I got baby 2 nursed and back to sleep I would get 15 min. of sleep and then baby 1 was up again wanting to be nursed. It was a nightmare! I never even considered NOT nursing them because just the thought of the cost of formula for two babies scared the hell out of me. I'll say again. It was worth it, but there for a while I felt like a diaper changing cow! No, I am not pretending to be asleep in this picture. I am passed out in this chair. God bless my father-in-law who bought me a comfortable chair to pass out in. Not to worry. Michael came to the rescue after he took this picture and put them in their crib.

They are just a few weeks old in this picture (Jacob left Tyler right) and they slept like this for about 6 months. I finally separated them when they started waking each other up by the one that woke up first crawling over the other one and waking him in the process.

I have to say that twins is definitely a lesson patience, whether you want it or not. And I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes, I really miss this stage.

Well, I feel like I've just written the Great American Novel, so I'll wrap it up with these pictures.

Louise, I think that in the picture of us it is, you, Jacob, Natalie, Regan, me and Tyler and in the picture of just the twins it's Natalie, Jacob, Regan and Tyler. How did I do with getting the girls right?

In the top picture is Michael, (who I haven't mentioned is a ROCK STAR daddy! He was a HUGE help to me when the boys were so little and still does a terrific job with all three of our kids! He was always right there to help me, he would bring me the baby that wasn't currently nursing and take the one that was finished so that I wouldn't have to get up and he was always asking if he could get me anything. I am not a water drinker but when I was nursing them I would drink two HUGE plastic cups of water and chomp on the ice. I couldn't get enough!) with Jake on the left and Tyler on the right. The next picture is of Jacob, I sat him up on the couch next to Eden and went to get the camera off the table and before I could take his picture he fell asleep like this. I love this picture of him. He looks like a toy doll instead of a real live infant! Following that is Tyler. I gave him a bath and greased him up with lotion and put a diaper on him and sat him in the corner of the crib, I went to help Michael get Jacob out of the tub and when I came back in the room Tyler had fallen asleep in the corner. Isn't he precious?! In the last picture, the boys are about 18 months old. This was right before I did the unthinkable, not to mention regrettable, and got them their first "big boy" hair cuts. Look at those curls. :o(

While I have so much more to say, because I could go on for days, I feel like at this point, I should say "And that's all I have to say about thaaaT."

The Macro lens

To Louise and Amy, I'm really sorry to keep posting about the camera and lenses but I have to put these pictures on here! I say I'm sorry because I know that once you decide that you have to have one of these cameras it becomes an urgency that you just have to have it right now. So I guess I should be apologizing to Tim and Chad. Anyway, Michael has been jonesing for a new lens and he knows how much I LOVE macro shots so when he went to Murphy's today, he discussed the lenses that we currently have and asked the sales clerk which one she would recommend. She said hands down, you need to have this lens. It is L series quality and we can't figure out why they don't just put the L on it.

So, we went to test it out. The Clarksville Town Hall has these really nice ponds out in front and several ducks and swans have made it their home. I love ducks, especially the mallards with the curly tail feathers. I just think they are so cute. I tried to get a good picture and this one is the best I could come up with. These ducks aren't like the ones in Myrtle Beach that are used to all the attention and will just set still and let you take their picture all day long. This one is actually in the process of cussing me out because I have disturbed his peace. But see his cute little curly tail feathers?!? I also love the shiny emerald color of their heads and the beautiful shade of blue on (or is it under) the wing.

We also made another trip to the Lowe's for more macro pictures of the flowers. By the way, here is the other shot of the orange bloom in the yellow lily's. I don't know if it was a potted orange lily that was just sitting in the middle of all the yellow or if it was a yellow lily that had a orange lily sharing it's pot but I thought that it was wonderful to see that shot of color in all of that sunny yellow.

Here is another picture with the macro lens. It is amazing the shots that you can get with this thing. These are the lollipop gerbera that I took some shots of when we were up there on Saturday. In the two days that have passed these blooms that were white (take a look at my post about the yard) have started turning this awesome variegated pink. It looks like a gradual saturation of color. Flowers are amazing!

Another one of my favorite things to take photos of is clouds. Michael actually took this picture for me because I was driving and we were sitting in the Sonic drive-thru getting a cherry coke. I love these particular clouds. They are just my kind of "dreamy" clouds. I like to dream that I am lounging in these clouds. They look so nice and fluffy and solid. I could lay on the ground all day and gaze up at these clouds, imagining myself laying in one where it is nice and peaceful with no kids talking incessantly about nothing in particular, just talking because they like the sound of their own voice. Speaking of the little devils, here is a picture that we took of them. I would have to say that this is probably the all time, best picture that we have taken of them so far, and by some miracle of God, they are actually being nice to each other, both are looking at the camera and Jacob isn't squeezing Tyler so tight that his eyes are popping out of his head. (Did I mention he's my mischief maker? ;o), cuz he's totally the one who gets it started.)

Is this not totally adorable?? I know it seems that Eden hasn't been getting much face time. Part of that is because she has spent the entire weekend with family members. She got to spend the night with Grandma Ruth on Friday and then spent the night with her Aunt Glenda (Mike's sister) both Saturday night and last night. I will have to dedicate a whole post to her in the very near future so that she doesn't feel neglected. Or should I say, so that I don't feel like I have neglected her. The poor thing. She's so self sufficient, I don't have to worry about her and her brothers truly are the "parent hogs". I try to make sure that I do something special just with her, but sometimes, the time just slips away from us.

Here are a few more pictures from today's trip to the Lowe's. Enjoy, and I will blog again tomorrow.

Michael felt sorry for this little guy and said that I should take it's picture to show the depth of field. He was right. He has a good eye for amazing shots! I love you honey. Thank you for finding something that we love to do together!

This picture is of the light fixture in our dining room. I was standing under it and probably 3 feet from it with camera pointing up at the ceiling. Does it not look like I am resting the camera on the light bulb? Like I said, AMAZING shots with this lens. Amy, don't zoom in on this one. I can already see the dust from here. In my defense, when you dust this particular light fixture, it zaps you. It's an old house, and old wiring, I'm positive that has something to do with it.