2009 in review...

Now that 2009 is coming to a close, it's time to reflect on all the things that we will remember from 2009...

• I received an incredible promotion in my work from home company!
• My girls ended Kindergarten and started 1st grade in different classes...that was an adjustment.
• Our trip to Oregon to watch my nephew graduate high school with a full ride scholarship to OSU!!  Yay!
• Got a commuter car
• Took the girls to the water park a couple of times this summer.
• Did two UBC (Ultimate Body Challenges) through Cardio kickboxing and dropped two full sizes.
• Gained most of the above weight back...lol
• Were blessed to buy a new house that we will be in for the rest of our lives.
• Short sold my other house...
• Went on an awesome Marriage Retreat through the church in Lake Tahoe
• Read several self help books
• Quit watching or listening to all forms of news!
• Became a blogger...
• Got on twitter

Those are just a few of the ones that I remember that were most important to us in 2009.  My family just sat down and wrote down all of our goals for 2010.  We are really excited for what it holds for us!
I thank God each and every day for all the blessings in our lives and am thankful the lessons that we were given this year.  We give all the glory to God and I am so thankful that my girls are already starting their spiritual walk.  Happy New Year to all and I wish you all the happiness and success that you strive for in 2010!

Worried about my boxer puppy...

Martini playing with her new presents on Christmas morning...

Our puppy is a 19 mo. old albino boxer puppy named Martini!  You see I have been a bartender since I was 21 and since I am not a big drinker, we have always named our dogs after alcohol.  It started with my black lab, Keager...then we had a Chocolate lab, Kahlua...and since they are no longer with us we have a white boxer named Martini!  Actually her official name is "Martini on the rocks" since white boxer puppies little lives used to be on the rocks.  Years ago boxer breeders would kill the white ones, they are kind of shunned from the breed so as not to mess up the markings of the traditional boxer.  Of course that's all I wanted was the white one.

We named her Martini because her eye reminded us of the olive...
it was her only marking when she was born!

Well here she is at 19 mo. and she is not looking as though she is really gaining weight.  She eats 3 cups of dry food that we mix with warm water in the morning and at night.  Her stool is fine, her coat looks great, her breath smells fine...she's just not really showing that she's gaining weight.  You can see her spine and her ribs...like the last 3.  So I am worried.

She's really NOT from the movie, "Poltergeist"...

I have looked up things online to find out if this was something that others have gone through and it seems that there are quite a few people that feel this way.  Considering that I had labs prior to our boxer, I am used to dogs getting thick around the middle. 

What I am learning is that these are "athletic" dogs and they are supposed to be lean and mean...well not mean, but you know what I mean.  But I am still a bit worried about her not gaining weight.  She is a very calm boxer...of couse she still has high energy, but she has always been very mellow.

So today we are off to take her to the football field to run around for about a half an hour and help her to build a lot of muscle...maybe that will do it.

Any suggestions from you boxer people out there would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

Random Tuesday Thoughts...crazy kids, too fat, 13 yr old blog

Whirlwind of holiday activity over the past two weeks..

May as well jump back in with some randomosity...

Is it just me or does everyone's kids go a little friggin crazy wild during this time of year.  My girls have always been so nice and pleasant to be around.  This year they are referred to as "a handful"...oh crap!  How do I get a handle on this.

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I got a new look on my blog.  I was so tired of going to these other blogs that are almost too pretty to look at and then there was mine...so I got busy, quickly learned photoshop and made myself a banner and a button...go check it out and please comment so I know what more needs to be done. 
P.S.  It's okay to be brutal!

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My 13 yr old niece has a blog...I am hoping this will allow her to "journal" her thoughts and have parenting advice from all the moms out in blog land.  We will see how it goes.  Please check it out and follow her so she can get some "real" parenting advice from someone other than her immediate family.

http://www.skyekazlie.blogspot.com/

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Why is it when you're too fat everything you put on looks HORRIBLE and when you are thin you can make anything look good.  I'm on my way back to making everything look good!  New Year's resolution...here I come!

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How do people get so many friggin followers?  I want advice on what fun stuff to do on my blog and how to make it a Top Blog! 

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How about buying Christmas gifts for your spouse...it never fails that on Black Friday I find a great deal, tell my husband that it was his Christmas gift to me and then by the time Christmas is here we are out of money and he does without once again...I have to go big for him in 2010.  :)

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I have to get to work...thankfully I work from home!

Happy New Year to all!

To get down with your own randomness...hop on over to Keely and link up!

New Look...

Today I spent awhile learning Photoshop to be able to make my blog a banner.  I go to others blogs all the time and see how friggin adorable their blogs look and wanted to add a little "flare" to mine as well.

So you can see the banner that I created today...I am so excited about learning Photoshop today and downloading a TON of free digital scrapbooking kits. 

I would love to know your thoughts and any ideas, suggestions or ways that I can enhance my blog.  I am open to all of it...good or bad!

Makes My Monday: Best of the Blog 2009

I have been blogging for only a couple of months but got this "Best of 2009" idea over at Twinfatuation and also at Scary Mommy.  Hope you all have an awesome new year and enjoy my favorite blogs from each month so far...


October:  My Twin Story...In the beginning

November: My DH, Halloween 2009

December: When they think she's her sister.., There's snow place like home

Wishing us all a VERY happy, healthy 2010.

Thank you all for writing your blogs...the joy they bring is immeasurable!

New to Makes My Monday? Share on your blog what warms your last Monday of 2009: Post a picture and tell the tale. Then be sure to link back here to share in the web-wide Monday fun. Don't forget to leave a comment for others...comments are always Monday makers!

Just a Motivating Monday...Turning Point Challenge

Amanda over at GaribaySoup does a Motivating Monday...what a great idea.  Sometimes it takes a bit to figure out something motivating to say in your blog but the process of doing it is very motivating in itself.  Link up and join in!

Think back to 1999...10 years ago today on December 28th.  Just a couple of days before the new millenium!!  2000!!!  Wow, the things we were going to accomplish in 2000!!! 

Well here you are a couple of days before 2010.  Are you where you thought you would be?  Did you accomplish the things you set out to do over the past 10 years?  Most people would answer no to this question. 

Here is where you can have your "Turning Point"...Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine is an amazing, amazing person!  On January 5th he is going to start an 8 week life planning process for us...FREE!!!  He will provide all of the training, documents, etc. that we will need and will post two times a week about it.  Click here to check it out!

I encourage each of you to pass this on to everyone that you know...

we are all seeking success in one form or another.

Success...everyone has a different definition of success depending on what success means to them.  Some people don't dream anymore because they don't want to be disappointed so success to them might mean living a mediocre life.  Not trying to put dreams out there that could somehow not come true. 

"God didn't manufacture junk, Success is  your birth right!!"

Dream big!  If you can dream it, you can achieve it! 

Let 2010 be your "Turning Point"!!

My Christmas was...

...awesome!

On Wednesday, my sister from Oregon and my nephew from Oregon State Univ. drove in.  Then Thursday, my brother and his girlfriend and his son flew in...this was a complete surprise.  While we were just sitting around waiting for my nephew from Texas to get here in walks my brother too!  So awesome!

There are 5 kids in my family and 6 nieces and nephews and everyone was together this Christmas!  It was one of the best Christmas' I can remember!

Christmas Eve I spent all day cooking with my girls.  We decided that we wanted to try to make pumpkin pies straight from the pumpkin.  I went online and found the BEST recipe for this.  It actually walks you through the entire process from picking out the pumpkin to making the crust and what the knife should look like when you check if the pie is finished.  It was amazing!

It took a little longer than we had anticipated and we made two (since I have twins, everything we do is in two's).  But it was so worth it!  Keep in mind, I have NEVER even made a pie before.  Never done a crust in my life and decided to go big on the first try!  They turned out really good!  The three of us were really proud of our pies.

Then Christmas was so wonderful.  We did Christmas Eve at my sister's and Christmas at my house...mind you we live about 100 yards from each other. 

We ate at 5:00pm...and I spent the entire day baking until it was time for dinner.  This is one of my favorite parts of the holidays.  I made 2 pumpkin rolls, 2 homemade pumpkin pies, 1 chocolate mint cream cheese roll, one batch of brownies.

Santa was really good to my girls...they each got a new bike for Christmas (without training wheels) and we took them to our basketball court at our house that is fully fenced to teach them how to ride them.  It literally took them about 45 minutes to go from never riding a bike before to riding it around the court by themselves...I am still totally blown away at how quick they learned how to ride those darn bikes. 

They also got new guitars for Christmas and with our whole family sitting around they decided to put on a "Christmas show" and brought out their guitars and sang to the whole family!  Then Erynn decided to make up a song while she played her guitar and sang to everyone by herself.  SO precious!

It was an amazing day!  Everyone was happy, there was plenty of food, the games lasted until the late night and we had one of the most memorable Christmas' I can remember.  Thank you God!

I hope you all had a blessed day also...Happy New year friends!

Ready for Christmas?!?!

You better watch out...you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tellin' ya why, Santa Clause is coming to town...

Those are all the things I do BECAUSE Santa Clause is coming to town.  It's a lot of work to make like that Jolly Old Fellow...presents, cookies, reindeer food, house clean, stockings hung, blah blah blah!

I sound like I am not excited about Christmas, however I am truly over joyed that it's right around the corner.  I love Christmas SO much and am so excited for all the things that we get to do to get ready for the season...I just think that it's funny that those are all the things in the song that they don't want the kids to do, yet we probably all fall victim as adults of doing just those things during the holiday season. :)  I know I have!

One thing to be thankful for this holiday season is that there isn't an overweight, slightly bossy, old man wearing a fuzzy red outfit and eating everything in sight telling us what not to do in order to get what we want this Christmas!

Maybe other years I would be a little more forgiving of the old guy...but this year, not so much!  LOL

So to ensure that you have a fun filled Christmas...I recommend using the following quotes to your loved ones from Buddy, "The Elf":

To your husband:  "First we'll make snowangels for 2 hours, then we'll to go skating, then we'll eat a roll of Tollhouse cookie dough as fast as we can, and then to finish, we'll snuggle!"

And in the event that you're not in the mood to snuggle...I suggest saying:  "You Stink. You smell like beef and cheese! You don't smell like Santa."

To your Mother-in-law:  "Morning Sarah, that's a very nice purple dress, it's very purpley"

Just for the fun of it:  "Francisco! That's fun to say! Francisco. Frannncisco. Franciscooo."

And remember...
"The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear." 

Let me know how those work for ya...
Merry Christmas everyone!  God bless you and your families!
~Kandi

Parenting Advice...seeking your help!

So this blog I am actually reaching out to all of you moms out there and hoping that you will be able to offer some advice.

I have identical twin girls that are 6 1/2 years old.  They are such good girls and we are so proud of them.  Recently, I have noticed that any time they are given "free range" where they are not being watched like a hawk, they seem to be making bad decisions.  They do the things that they have been asked NOT to do over and over again.  When asked why they decided to do that, they will say..."well mom, we really wanted to.  We didn't want to listen to what you said."  I appreciate the honesty, but how am I ever supposed to be able to trust them to do the right things when given the opportunity.

For example, yesterday my husband washed my car and it was sparkling clean.  This morning the girls wanted to go down in the garage and play with our kitties.  We didn't see any reason why they couldn't.  Is there stuff down there that they shouldn't play with, of course, but we trusted them to stay away from it.

I just got in my car to run to the store and noticed that there were finger prints all over my driver side window...a little odd considering the car was just washed.  Coming back from the store with the headlights shining in my windshield, I noticed that I have a TON of little hands all over my window...THEY WERE ON TOP OF MY CAR!! 

I am totally blown away.  I was given a lot of freedom at their age and can honestly say that I NEVER climbed on my mom and dads car. 

So I am going out on a limb here and asking for help.  Please, please leave a comment on what you think we should or should not do.  Things that have worked or have not worked for you.  Sometimes, it better to learn by others mistakes than their successes...so anything you have to add is greatly appreciated!

From one mom to another, I thank you in advance for your help!

Teenage blog...moms, check it out!

My 13 yr old niece decided to start a blog...check it out and follow her  {click here}.  I thought it was a great idea for her to be able to journal her thoughts.  There is a lot that goes on with a 13 year old child and will continue to all through high school and I thought this would be an awesome way for her to share her experiences and get advice. 

Another thing I thought about were all the moms out there with children at or closely approaching 13.  This would be an awesome way for you to see into a 13 year old's mind...and be able to ask her questions that might help you interact with your own teenagers. 

There will be many times that she is going to ask questions of the parents out there and hope to get advice for the things that she is currently going through...I am excited for what she is going to bring to the blog world.

This week she and I are going to start reading the book, "Success For Teens"...totally amazing book and if you click here it will take you to the website that you can order a book, download the audio for free and download a workbook that goes along with it for free.  It's amazing and I am very excited for what this is going to bring to my 13 year old niece .  She will blog about her thoughts and feelings about the book as well.

She is not telling any of her friends about her blog so that she can write without worrying about being judged.  This is a great place to learn about what really goes on in a 13 year olds world...the good, the bad and the ugly.  It will probably open many peoples eyes!

Please help me support her in her adventure to let her voice be heard.

Thanks so much!

Aloha Friday...Christmas presents

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link over at Island Life. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

This week's question is:

Do you put your Christmas presents under the tree as you wrap or do you wait for Christmas morning for them to all go under the tree?  And why...

We put our Christmas presents under the tree starting the day after Thanksgiving...why?  Becuase that's what my mom always did.  I was never one of those kids that looks at the presents before the big day.

We have heard that people actually put the presents under the tree on late Christmas Eve...and I thought about it and think that would be fun, but wanted to hear why people do it that way and the pros and cons of it.

Merry Christmas!

For more Aloha Fridays...make your holly jolly way over to Island Life.

1st Grade Christmas program...

Last night was the girls' 1st grade Christmas program.  It was so sweet!

I have them in separate classes and it was fun because they each got to learn different songs and go up at different times.  This is so good for them. :)

The evening did take an interesting turn though...as we got home from school and were getting ready to get them in their dresses my sister called and told me something so sad.  A guy that works for my brother-n-law had his daughter, Alexis over at my sister's house.  Alexis is in Emilie's class.  My sister Kim called me and told me that Alexis was telling her how beautiful she was gonna look in her Christmas dress, etc.  Kim mentioned to Alexis's dad that it was about time for her to start getting ready and he told Kim that she was not gonna be able to go.  My sister almost cried.  We have such a soft spot in our hearts for kids that when she called me and let me know that Alexis was not gonna be able to go, I instantly had her bring Alexis over to my house.  Between my husband and I we had a dress, tights, matching shoes and a hair bow within a matter of minutes to get Alexis ready and let her come with us to the Christmas program. 

Alexis has two older brothers so she really doesn't get a chance to get dressed up very often...and she was so excited to dress up and sing her songs.  She kept asking people all night...isn't my hair beautiful?  Isn't my dress beautiful?  She was very proud of herself.  It was so special. :)

We were so thankful to be able to help her have a great evening, along with our own girls. 

It turned out awesome!

PJ Party, Getting melted candles out of holders and other randomness....

10 days until Christmas???  Seriously???  Why doesn't it feel like it?

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The annual girls HO HO HO PJ party...super fun!  We wear jammies and bring a pair of pj's wrapped with you.  Then we do the white elephant exchange for the jammies...it's pretty brutal, but lots of fun!

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Wouldn't the world be a much happier, less cluttered place if everything was done electronically?  What do people really do with all the stacks of mail that we get and don't read...especially this time of the year.  You realize that bills will actually change color when they are serious about coming after you for non payment!  Learned that in my 20's. 

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Sing Off...new show hosted by Nick Lachey.  Awesome...everything is totally acapella (meaning no instruments, etc...only voices).  I was so impressed!  You have to check it out...I don't even like to watch TV and wasn't able to walk away from this.

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So don't you think that 6 years after having twins I should come to a point when I will stop peeing my pants?  Well I haven't.  Seriously, I'm not even modest about it anymore.  The other day I made a dumb decision when I went in to the post office after feeling a tiny bit like I had to pee.  Needless to say, it was not good.  The whole way out of the post office I was peeing my pants a little bit every step I took.  And then the dreaded sit down in the car move...that'll make ya pee them for sure.  So I drove home knowing darn good and well that I had peed my pants...no big deal, until I got home and my sister and neice were there.  That's enough to damage a 13 year old girl from ever having kids.  I walked in and ran past them telling them I had to pee...their comment..."I think you already have."  They were right. 

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I love this little trick and you will to, especially over the holidays...to get already melted candles out of your candle holders...stick the candle holder in the freezer for about an hour and hit the bottom of the candle holder and the candle inside will pop right out.  You'll feel like a genius!

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I LOVE Jim Carey in all of these kids movies...i.e. The Grinch.  That is the funniest show ever, I just love Jim Carey as The Grinch.  His fuzzy fingers and over stuffed belly, I could watch that a 1000 times.  And then as the elephant in Horton Hears a Who!  This will shock you...I almost pee my pants everytime I watch it cuz he's so darn funny! 

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My girls have their 1st grade Christmas program tonight...can't wait!  I thank God for my family everyday!

Now run on over to Keely's and check out more Random Tuesday Thoughts.

You wont regret it. :)

Sign Language for Kids...

When my girls were 4 months old I started teaching them sign language.  You know the basic signs:  mom, dad, eat, drink, hungry, thirsty, no, yes, more, milk, water, please.  By the time they were 8 months old they were signing to me.  It was AMAZING!!  I couldn't believe how quickly they picked it up!

At 13 months old they were signing about 75-80 signs on a daily basis.  Why did we start sign language with the girls...why not?  I was reading "On Becoming Babywise II" and at the end of that book were some starter signs and I thought that would be kind of cool.  I never imagine what it would turn in to.  Also, my girls NEVER had any frustrations with eating time.  They would tell me when they were done, when they wanted more, what they wanted, etc.  This is actually why we started them to begin with. 

When kids are under 1 year old, often times they know what they want to say but you can't understand it.  This is very frustrating to them.  They are trying to talk to you and you have no idea what they are saying...this completely eliminated all of that!!

At 13 months my girls were asked to be in Baby Signs DVDs that were produced by Baby Einstein.  We went to audition and they were the youngest ones in the DVD.  It was so much fun.

By the time they were 2 they were signing around 200 signs each.

Some ask if this delayed their speach...it was quite the opposite.  By the time my girls were 24 months old, they were tested at their 2 year old checkup and the doctor told me that they were talking and learning at a 4 year old level.  And that has never stopped.  They are now in 1st grade and were just tested at a 4th grade level and passed at 96%...I owe all that to reading to them since they were two weeks old and sign language.

The DVDs that we are most passionate about are the "Signing Time" DVDs.  The story of the mom Rachel and her sister Emilie and what they have done with these absolutely amazing DVDs is worth taking a look at.  This is where my girls (and me) learned the bulk of their signs.  We have 16 of the DVDs and my girls just LOVED watching them.  There is actually a great interview with Rachel Coleman...the co-creator of Signing Time over at Multiples and More...check it out!  Rachel answers many commonly asked questions about teaching your children sign language!

I would recommend these DVDs to everyone that I know!!

Happy Signing!

Oh, the people we meet....

In my business I have the pleasure of meeting lots of different kinds of people.  Being that I love people, this is a good thing.  The last couple of days have been somewhat frickin crazy interesting to say the least about this individual that I met.

I got a phone call that this gentlemen...we'll call him Buddy...and he lets me know that he will be meeting me at a meeting that I had on Tuesday night.  He was unable to make it so I followed up with him the next day.  Not ever having met "Buddy" before, I had no idea what to expect.  Here's what I did know about him...he was very interested in my technology business.  That's it.

So my first call with him goes something like this...
I introduce myself and he tells me how excited he is to meet me and to see my business.  Without taking a breath he then proceeds to tell me how wonderful he is and that his geneology goes back to William the Conqueror, he was hired to be the bull pin catcher for the Oakland A's but turned that down, but he is in the hall of fame at U of O.  My response...Oh, how nice.  He then proceeds to tell me that he has an executive assistant that works for him in Eugene, OR and handles his calender and such.  I ask him what he does for a living....he pauses...then shares with me that he is a pizza delivery driver for a chain of pizza restaurants in our area that his brother owns.  He just does that to make sure no one is "stealing" from his brother...ahhh ok. 

It doesn't end there, he then tells me that he wants to meet me for breakfast the next morning so we can discuss the business.  I find out the location we are meeting and then he tells me...I like your name.  Thank you, I say.  (Mind you, my name is Kandi)  He then tells me...i bet you're eye candy.  It took everything that I had not to laugh considering I would be what they call the OPPOSITE of eye candy. :)  He then tells me that when he sees me he is going to give me a "sweet kiss", I share with him that there will not be any kisses but a firm handshake will be fine.  You can imagine how many red flags I have going up at this point. 

So the next day, the person who introduced him to the business is going to meet me at the restaurant where "Buddy" has suggested we go.  I actually didn't know the address though so I call him to confirm exactly where we are meeting...he tells me and then says to me..."you buying or are we going dutch, cuz if we're going dutch, I don't have any money."  WTF????   I just about passed out.  I haven't ever had anyone say such an ignorant thing to me in my life!  Mind you, I planned on buying breakfast, but now was adamantly against it!  I said to him that I had already eaten so I wouldn't be eating, but if he needed me to buy his breakfast, that would be fine. 

I actually considered not going just because I could see where this was going...and then I thought I might call him just for the fun of it and tell him that I was running a bit late and would have to meet him after breakfast.  All of which would have been inappropriate, so I went. 

The meeting was interesting to say the least and I can honestly say I have encountered one of the very first "scam artists" that I have come across in my life.

The last thing I will share with you is that while he was eating breakfast, my business partner and I were just sitting there.  A person across the room received an order of bisquits and gravy that looked too good to pass up...my business partner and I decided that we would split an order since we both weren't very hungry...when the waitress came up, she mentioned that they had a half order as well.  This sounded much better for us...then "Buddy" chimes in and tells the waitress, "Just go ahead and bring them the big order and what they don't eat I will take home!"...remember I'M PAYING!!! 

This was just the funniest meeting ever and it will definitely give us a story to talk about long in to the future.  He did end up putting money out for his meal...which totaled $40 by the way...and when I offered to get that he said no...so I paid for mine and left nicely. 

In this business I am blessed to meet lots of people...and ALL KINDS of people...and as a result, I am a better person because of it.

By the way...he did take our left over bisquits and gravy.

Aloha Friday...Christmas traditions

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and head on over to Island Life to post your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question is:

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

One of my favorite traditions that my husband and I started many years ago is an ornament for the Christmas tree.  Every year we find one ornament that representst that year and we buy it for our tree.  This makes it a lot of fun when decorating the tree because it reminds us of major things in our lives.  We now let the girls choose one too so they can start the tradition and our Christmas tree tells a story.

I would love to hear fun traditions that you have at Christmas...please post your comment. :)

My brave husband...

This evening my husband comes downstairs with a pair of scissors and a comb and asks me to cut his hair...after I recovered from choking and slightly freaking out I agreed to do it.

When I was getting ready to start...I actually had no idea where to begin.  Do you go from bottom to top or back to front or visa versa?  Oh crap...what was I going to do?

So I started on the top and just made sure that it was even by pulling the hair up between my fingers and then cutting slightly above my fingers.  This is what I have seen my hair dresser do...isn't it? 

Well after about 15 minutes and a HUGE pile of hair on the ground later, I was done. 

He went in and took a shower and then did his hair the way he usually would and I am proud to announce...it looks awesome!  Who would have thought I had such a hidden talent?  LOL

I can't believe he would even put a pair of scissors in my hand.  I can tell you this though, there are as many cuts on my hand as there are in his hair.

Another one for the books...

Way Back When..esday

Em and Er, February 2005

I was blessed to be at home with my girls for the first three years of their lives.  (Now I am blessed to work from home and be with them every day!)  We always had a daily routine and part of that was to go check the mail...this is how we would bundle up to go check it.  I just love my precious girls!

Link up to  Way Back When...esday over at Twinfatuation...

What it is that I do...

I have received several emails over the course of the last couple of weeks wondering what this wonderful company is that has blessed me to stay at home with my girls...this blog is going to share that with you.

In July of 2008, I was approached to come and look at a business that they thought..."I would love".  Just for the record I was not a big fan of multi-level marketing.  Not because I had done something before but because we all know people that tried something, THEY didn't work it so they said the opportunity didn't work. 

I sat down and actually shared with the people presenting that I was not going to be interested in "whatever this was".  Then they started to get in to it...it blew my mind.

You see prior to this wonderful business...I was the head recruiter at a casino.  Really super fun job...I just didn't like the direction the company was going, so I gave my notice.  During my two week notice is when this business was presented.

I now own my own telecommunications company...here is the beautiful thing, every time one of my friends or family members pays their home phone, cell phone, TV, internet, or home security bill...I get paid.  It's called residual income.  Residual income is doing the work once and getting paid over and over and over again for it.  This is one of the ways that we make money.

Another thing that I love is that I don't have to sell you ANYTHING, you already use and pay for the services that we offer EVERY SINGLE DAY!  So I am not going back to you and selling you a vitamin or a lotion, potion or magical juice (which all of those are great products) in order to make my residual for the month. 

We are an amazing company that has the most blessed leadership that you could come across.  I am thankful for what this has allowed me and my family. 

First of all...it's the phone.  Everyone is going to use and pay for a phone until the day they quit breathing air.  To be able to make money every time someone paid their phone bill was amazing to me!

Here I am a year and a half later more excited about this opportunity than I have ever been in my life.  You see I have always worked for someone.  Then I understood you could never create wealth working for someone else...you could create wealth for them but not for yourself.

My heart is with helping people and I love being able to help so many people every single day. 

To learn more about what I do and view any of the opportunity videos...please click{HERE}

I wish you all great success in whatever you do...the number one thing that I would recommend to change your life is to read and listen to self help books and audios every single day!

To find out more Tuesday Toot Meme's...click here.

Random Tuesday Thoughts...

Oh yes, it's Tuesday again. Woo-hoo! Time for Random Tuesday Thoughts! If you want to get down with your randomness head over the Keely.

I just think that it is so funny when we, out here in California, get any kind of bad weather...it's as though everyone has forgotten anything they ever knew about driving!  And yesterday there was so much snow.  Of course the school called a snow day cuz it was actually too dangerous to drive in...but last night I got a call on my phone from the school letting us know there would be no school today either due to the ice that is going to be on the ground.  This makes sense though considering when it rains they don't know what to do...what would they do in the ice?

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The tooth fairy came last night and dropped the tooth on the bedroom floor somewhere...the tooth fairy looked and looked for it in the middle of the night, but still no luck.  I am curious what mom is going to have to tell Em about the magical tooth fairy who dropped her tooth on the ground.  We're about to find out...

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Jim Rohn died...what an awesome, inspirational mentor and leader. Sad to see him go...but so thankful for all the books and audios he leaves behind.

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There is a cool website that little miss Amanda over at Garibay Soup told me about called...www.dafont.com.  All was well and fine until I looked at the "sexy" fonts...just an FWI, make sure your kids are already in bed before going there...perhaps there will be a time when I need to write a note to someone in the font, "Cocksure".  Who knows?

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Looking for suggestions that you have on parenting in a way that my kids will always feel comfortable talking to me.  Any ideas would be great....they're only 6 but I think if I start doing it now, when they're teenagers it will be already instilled in them.  Perhaps that's wishful thinking...lol!

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Is it really necessary that they make Tiger Woods CHEATING the top news headline over all the other things that are going on in the world.  That's so very sad!

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Today I am learning to love failure...I'll keep ya posted on how it goes.

Peace Out!

There's snow place like home...

Sorry that I haven't been around for the last couple of days.  I have had the most amazing weekend ever.  I am so very blessed that I am able to work from home in such an phenomenal company...then it gets even better...every three months I am able to travel for a weekend to go to training. 

This last weekend was unbelieveable...it changes lives. 

Driving home yesterday I noticed that it was exceptionally cold in Southern CA...very rare regardless of what time of year.  The closer we got to home...the colder it got. 

Our area of Northern CA definitely has its seasons, however we don't get snow very often. 

This is what I woke up to today...looking out our front windows.  How super exciting...after 4 days away from home, I am blessed to come home to snow!

With it being a snow day at school, I was so excited that I got to hang out with my girls all day...we couldn't get our snow gear on quick enough.

There was just one problem though...since moving twice in two months...we didn't know where the girls snow stuff was.  But much to our surprise, a business partner of mine who was not able to make it home last night due to the roads being closed from the snow, was here with a truck full of snow stuff.  You see, my business partner lives in South Lake Tahoe which snows all winter long.  He was so equipped it was rediculous!

He had sleds, beanies, kids gloves, gloves for me, etc.  Not to metion a snow shovel to make a jump in the driveway for the girls to go over.  It was so much fun! 

My neice Skye came over to play with the girls too!  (You can see them all on the sled above on the left)

There truly is SNOW place like home!

                                                            

When they think she's her sister....

Another lesson in the life of twins today...

My girls are 6 years old and they are in different classes in 1st grade.  There are many days that they WANT to dress alike.  Every morning when I am getting them ready for school I will ask them if they want to dress alike or different and around 80% of the time they want to dress alike.

Well, needless to say there are many kids in their classes that know that they have an identical twin sister but truly wouldn't know who was who in the hallway.  Today, as usual, they were dressed alike.  It actually doesn't even matter, they can get to school and walk each other to their classes and their friends try to figure out which one is in their class.  I think it is fun for them to guess so that they make an effort and unfortunately, no one has gotten them right yet...including their teachers. :)

This is where the story begins.  When I was picking the girls up from school today, Erynn was walking toward me and we were going to walk over and get Emilie.  A little boy from Em's class (who is usually really shy) said, "Hi Emilie" to Erynn.  And I wasn't sure if Erynn actually said hi, it appeared that she didn't.  My heart instantly hurt for that little boy that he got enough courage to say hi to Em and then thinks she didn't even say hi back.

So I had to have a talk with my girls...and I said, this is something that is going to happen for the rest of your life.  There will be way more people that can't tell you apart than that can.  So when you are walking through the school...through the store...wherever you are and someone says hi to you and thinks you are your sister, just say hi.  Why?  Because they are going to think that your sister is being rude if you don't.  Now there will be those that really think that you are the other one and it is at that point that I would let them know that they must think that you are your identical twin sister and then let them know that you are not.  Otherwise, it is going to be easier for both of you through life just to say hi to those that say hi in casual passing. :)

What an interesting concept to have to explain to my 6 yr olds.  They totally understood and Erynn actually let me know that she did say hi to that nice boy when he thought she was her sister.  Phew...thank goodness!

Where did my insight come from???  My sister (who is 11 months older than me) married an identical twin...and I ask them a lot of questions about growing up.  Here they are 39 years old, still look exactly alike, sound exactly alike and even though they live an hour and a half away...they own a business together, work together every single day, play together on the weekends, have the same hobbies, buy the same trucks, motorhomes, baja cars...you name it.  And to this day, they still say hi to those that in passing think they are their brother...it just makes life easier I guess.

Way Back When..esday...

I love this picture...it was almost two years ago.  The girls were 4 years old and our baby puppy is an albino boxer, her name is Martini and we love her so much.  She was about 10 weeks old there.

Dive into your digital photos or scan a scrapbook find and play along with Way Back When-esday. Be sure and link back to Twinfatuation to participate in the web-wide reverie...and leave a comment when you do!

Random Tuesday Thoughts...

Oh yes, it is Tuesday again. Woo-hoo! Time for Random Tuesday Thoughts! If you want to get down with your randomness head over the Keely.

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Why is it that the older people get, the less they get praised.  You will do a pee pee dance with your kids just for going potty and as they start to get older... it starts to turn into, do this, do that without any dances.  I want to be a person of positive influence on my children and others around me...always making them feel better about themselves and helping them believe they can conquer the world.

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There are times where you wonder if you should actually lighten up a little and let your child ride the bus to school...until days like today.  On the way to school, right in front of the school, there is a huge yellow school bus that looks like it cut a corner too sharp and ended up on the corner and anything that was under the corner.  It is actually lifted up so that half of the tires were not touching the ground.  And the kids were still in it.  It's moments like these that you remember that by riding the bus, you would be putting their lives in someone elses hands.

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The tortilla's at Costco that you buy that are uncooked...holy cow...those are my downfall.  Once that package is gone I will start the no carb thing again. :)

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Commit to reading 10 pages of a self help book a day.  You figure if you read 10 pages a day...what will that take, maybe a half an hour at the most.  Then figure that in to a year...3650 pages a year.  That's a lot of books that you could be reading to help better your life, friends and families lives, your children's lives, etc.  Don't under estimate the value of reading books about very successful people.  Whether you want success in parenting, finances, personal growth, the list is endless.  Take that step to commit to yourself going in to the new year...10 pages a day and watch it change your life.

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My girls are so funny...they are so animated and have such great little personalities.  They are both totally into dance moves.  Erynn's infatuation right now is the dance move of spanking herself...she figures out how to do it several different ways. 

To be concerned or not to be concerned...that is the question.

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Merry Christmas...there are many people that write Merry X-mas and I have NEVER done that because you are taking the "Christ" out of Christmas.  Just another random thought.

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Heading to So Cal on Thursday early early morning...ready for a fun filled weekend full of awesome inspiration, motivation and training.  Can't wait!

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Have a great week all and go get random with the Un Mom