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!