Where have we been?

It's been a while since I've been online and blogging.  We have been sick.  Again.  :-(  The twins both have had colds.  I will say they didn't have them as bad this time which I am attributing to the raw milk and all the good nutrients in that.  I, on the other hand, am still stopped up after a week and 1/2 and still have a nagging cough.  I am SO looking forward to spring!  We did get outside for a bit today.  I fully believe in fresh air so the kids ran around the yard for a while.  They are so cute now that they can walk out there.  Carson just laughed and laughed at being able to touch the cat after many, many months of watching her on the back deck.  I should have taken pictures but I didn't.  I just enjoyed the moments.  Tomorrow is milk day and I have to take Carson to the dr. at some point for some issues he's having, so we start another busy week.  I am taking Patom to treatments twice this week, have Bible study, have a Relay committee meeting,  going with my friend Mary for pre-op stuff, and our big BBQ dinner for our Relay team is Saturday so there's lots of prep work for that.  I'm blessed to be able to do all these things.  That's what I keep telling myself.... :-)  I will try to post more soon.  I am really tired now. 

Update on Patom

Patom's cancer treatments have been postponed one week because he is sick.  :-(  Please pray he gets better so he can start treatments at 100% and strong!  He has some bronchial/cold thing going on and is on antibiotics, an inhaler, and nebulizer.  My mom and sister both seem to have sinus stuff and now Dustin has it too.  I hope they all get better and the twins & I don't get anything!  There seems to be so much going around.

I'm off to clean the kitchen but wanted to update everyone on the latest.  I think all I do is clean the kitchen lately.  Love to cook, hate to clean up!  :-)  I did finally make the homemade applesauce and it was yummy.  The twins and Patom both loved it.  I took him some dinner to make things easier on them.  I can't wait for apple season now (yes, in September!  my Granny has tons of apples in the fall), I'm going to can some applesauce!  It's funny what I get excited about the older I get!  Hope everyone's having a great week! 

Tomorrow

Tomorrow my grandpa, "Patom" as we call him, begins radiation treatments and chemotherapy for lung cancer.  Please keep him in your prayers.  He went through treatments a couple of years ago for esophageal cancer, but this is our first experience with chemotherapy.  He will get chemo once a week and will be there for several hours.  Radiation will be daily.  This is a difficult time for the family because we don't know what chemo will bring.  He drove to a dr.'s visit a few weeks ago and had to pull over because he was tired, so we are trying figure out who's taking him when, etc.  I'm thinking he's going to be more tired this time around, but I guess time will tell.   I hope to help out driving as much as I can-Carson may get moved to the "way back" of the car.  Doesn't everyone call it the "way back"?  We always have! Anyway, all we can do is pray and take this one day at a time! 

Simplicity

I absolutely love going to get our milk on Mondays.  I actually look forward to it each week.  There is something so simple about it.  It's a pretty quick trip but gets us out of the house for a little bit and it's something I can do by myself with the kids.  The farm is so cute and honestly-my dream!  :-)  There are chickens running around and cows in the pasture.  It's country living at it's best.  I keep telling the twins that a chicken is going to hop in the car while Mommy is getting the milk, since I leave the hatch up.  I guess I just love what it stands for- simplicity, the small farmer, getting back to basics, not conforming to society.....my sister has decided that I was placed with the wrong family at birth.  I won't share which sister, I'll leave you guessing.  :-)  She also said I should have been born Amish.  I think that's a compliment!  I really do.  We've been called weird, strange, etc. and it honestly doesn't bother me one bit.  I take it as a compliment because it just means to me that we are doing things our own way and not worrying what others think.  I like to stand up for what I believe and try not to worry if other people don't do things like we do them.  It doesn't mean anyone is right or wrong.  Individuality is nice.  So, why are we weird?  I think it's because we still make our children ride rear facing in the car, don't have a microwave, drink raw milk, just to name the main things.  
Sidenote-if you want more information on why rear-facing longer is better- go to www.kyledavidmiller.org for more info.  It is very enlightening.  
We don't have a microwave because....well, ours broke and we didn't replace it.  We didn't miss it once it went out...so that's the story on that.  It's funny because we got asked how we reheat food, people have offered to give us microwaves, it's like we are pitied on because we don't have one.   My neices and nephew wanted popcorn Saturday night since we had a redbox movie to watch.  They were running around going where's the microwave and I told them we were making it on the stove.  Well, that was a good 5-10 minutes of entertainment.  We all gathered around anxiously waiting for that first pop.  Once it got going, I opened the lid for them to see that it was indeed making popcorn and some flew out.  How fun!  We seasoned it when it was done and they enjoyed several bowls each.  They even had some to take for the next day's snack.  It really does just taste better cooked like that.  If I had a microwave we would have just thrown it in and waited for the beep.  We would have missed the anticipation and squeals as it began popping and the entertainment it provided the five little people gathered around me.  I wouldn't have wanted to miss that for the world!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  It is the twins' second Valentine's day, I've been telling them all day about Valentine's day.  They aren't that impressed!  Haha.  We went to pick up our milk this morning, which is always fun.  I just love doing that....it's a nice little outing and gets us going for the week.  I also gave them our gift to them, a Valentine's DVD.  It's Veggie Tales "A Silly Little Thing Called Love."  We watched it after we got the milk and they liked it.  It has silly songs that are cute.  They liked that a lot.  Dancing is the big thing around here.  We have a Valentine's book about the history of Valentine's and we've been reading that since last week, it's a cute little religious book.  Other than that, it's a low-key kind of day.  We are meeting my family for dinner at a restaurant, so that should be fun!  We used to do that growing up, so I'm kind of glad we are doing it again.  Dustin & I went out Thursday night for a date....so it's nice to do a family thing tonight.  I think we'll keep that tradition up.  I wanted to make heart shaped pancakes, etc. but I thought....nah.  The kids will have to have them cut up anyway so I'll do that next year.  I think the video was enough celebration for 1 year olds.... :-)  Hope everyone has a blessed day! 
Oh- and the cutest thing....when I ask Carson "who do you love?"  He says " momma, momma, momma"  Doesn't that warm your heart on Valentine's Day? 

Our weekend

We had a pretty quiet weekend, which are always the best ones!  We visited my Granny which was a lot of fun.  The kids didn't break anything this time, so that counts as a good visit, right?  :-)   Before I had the twins I would eat lunch with her once a week and we'd talk and talk.  Now, I don't think we get three sentences in, but it's fun to visit and let her see the twins "show off" what they can do!  We kept my neices and nephew Saturday night and Sunday was church for me, then dinner with my family to finish up the week.  It was nice! 

Food

Has it already been a week since I've updated?  Time flies.  We have been busy as usual this past week-grocery shopping, super bowling, doing taxes, picking up our milk, etc.etc.etc.  The normal stuff.  I realized I haven't written in a while on what the twins are eating nowadays.  It is something.  I never know what they are going to eat- one day they like something.  The next day it gets rejected (i.e. spit back out with a grin).  Emilynn loves most everything, Carson is pickier.  They like to feed themselves too, so that throws a curve in feeding.  They don't like many textures sometimes, so I still buy babyfood, #3s so they can get more of a vegetable variety.
Here's what they eat....

What they like: 

• Most all of the Earth's Best 3rd foods baby food.  Favorites are spaghetti, chicken with stars, all of the soups, apple cinnamon oatmeal, vegetable beef pilaf, and any vegetables or fruits
• cheese- string cheese, grilled cheese, mac & cheese, cheese quesadilla....the kids love cheese!
• Yogurt-any Stonyfield Yobaby or Yotoddler ones
• milk-we drink a lot of milk....the twins drink 3 gallons a week
• whole wheat bread
• bananas
• cantaloupe
• peas....oh how they love to feed themselves peas! 
• Earth's Best cereal bars for toddlers-I like them cause they have iron.  I worry about their iron levels
• mangos
• corn
• pineapple
• pancakes
• Eggs-scrambled with cheese preferrably
• applesauce
• carrots
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• butternut squash

They aren't too keen on feeding themselves things like green beans because of the texture.  I hope this will get better and we can do more vegetables as self-feeding foods rather than pureed.  I will puree anything though...I love my chopper!  I realized in talking to my family that we drink an unusually high amount of milk each week.  Here's what I buy for a week-usually I buy double though because I don't grocery shop every week, I go twice a month. 

Each week we use:

• 6 gallons of milk- Is that really a lot?  I guess it kind of is.  We get 3 gallons of raw milk, then 3 at the store for Dustin & I.  He drinks 2 gallons a week, I drink 1 gallon, babies drink 3 gallons.  We probably should just get our own cow....??  I thought everyone drank that much.  My cousin grocery shops with me sometimes and she asked how in the world do I keep all the milk straight?  I get skim, D gets 1%, twins get whole.  Of course we get the fresh now too.....
• 14 cups of yogurt
• 7-10 bananas
• 2 loaves of homemade bread
• 14 string cheeses
• 56 diapers minimum

Those are what I know I buy each week.  I also get whatever else I think the kids will eat and stuff for our lunches, dinners, etc.  I've always enjoyed cooking, it's fun.  I like to try new recipes and see what the kids will eat.  Oatmeal is something we are trying.  Emilynn likes it okay, Carson....he wasn't a fan.  It could change tomorrow though-you just never know!

Our busy day yesterday...

I think I'm still recovering from yesterday.  Monday was crazy!  We don't normally have crazy Mondays, but we had a lot to do yesterday.  We first got up and had breakfast, got ready and headed out to get our milk.  We will do that every Monday, that is our pick up day.  It is nice because the couple that boards the cows has such a nice set up.  I can pull right up, go in their garage and get our milk and I don't have to unload the twins.  That means, I can go by myself!  Anything I can do independently is always nice.  I know that sounds odd, but I just enjoy being independent and not having to always take someone with me.  I want to manage my own children, you know?  I am very, very close to taking them more places though because they are almost expert walkers!  Yep, I am excited about them walking.  I keep hearing, "you're going to have your hands full when they can walk."  My thought is, I have my hands full now!  Try unloading two twenty-something pound children, one in each arm, plus diaper bag and going into a place.  It's not easy at all.  I always get the diaper bag out, then Carson out first, then open Emilynn's door, then lock the car, then get Emilynn out because she's still light enough for me to get with one arm....then kick the car door shut and hope I don't drop anything. Since they haven't been able to walk, I haven't been able to put them down.  I can at least sit one baby down while I load or unload another once they are standing really well.  Or sit them down while I pay for something somewhere.  Or let them stand so I can actually go potty while we are out, a luxury I have given up the past year.  So, I'm sidetracked.  But, I am honestly, truly, really enjoying the walking!  Call me crazy, call me insane.  I may take back the words but for now, I'm glad! 
Back to our insane day yesterday- we took our milk back home, then headed to the newspaper to do some Relay For Life stuff there.  We also ran by Meme's work to drop something off and so she could sit in the car with the babies while I ran into the paper office.  I then indulged myself in a Mickey D's Sweet Tea.  And I order it just like that.  It drives my sister crazy.  One time I did not say the full thing and got charged more than the $1 price.  I can't risk that again-haha!  :-)  Anyway, side tracked again!  Sorry!  I then headed back home and fed the babies their lunch.  My mom showed up by then and we took off to the pediatrician's office.  Emilynn had to go get checked for a spot she has itched till it's almost infected.  It's on her back and I hadn't been able to get it healed.  We got some prescription cream so all is well with that.  Carson also had a big milestone-he got his first haircut!  I finally gave in because it was covering his eyes!  Poor boy couldn't see anymore.  We went to this neat salon just for kids.  It was a lot of fun, made the experience easier on Momma too!  He got to sit in an airplane for his haircut and "steer" it.  They have different things for the kids to sit on, like a Dora jeep, a Barbie car, the airplane, etc.  They also have a portable DVD player at each station for each child to watch during their haircut.  Since they didn't have Wheel of Fortune, Carson settled for Elmo.  Yes, the boy likes some Wheel.  It's so cute.  Why does he like it?  He likes to clap along and if you watch the show, they clap for EVERYTHING!  I noticed him doing it one day and it was so funny.  Anyway, he got his haircut and he looks so handsome.  He also got a neat "my first haircut" certificate with his name, age, date, lock of hair, before and after pics, and who was with him on his big day.  So cute!  I will have to email pics of the experience.  It was fun. 
After all that I ran in Kroger to get bananas and fruit and then we headed home.  It was a long, tiring, no nap for the kiddos day!  We were all ready for bed last night! 
Today, you can guess we stayed at home and rested till Mommy had Bible study tonight. 
I felt like I had gotten so much accomplished and the kids only got out at the hair salon and Emilynn at the dr., so we still avoided exposure as much as possible.  A good day.