Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2010...

***I will be leaving this post up for the week of the blog party...then it'll be back to the usual.***

This is my first time participating in the Ultimate Blog Party!

The party continues from April 9th thru April 16th, so you still have plenty of time to join us!

The idea of the Ultimate Blog Party (UBP) is to create a post that describes you and you link it up on the main UBP post over at Five Minutes for Moms so that others can stop by and visit you! It is a great way to meet new friends in the blogosphere!

Okay, now that that is taken care of, time to tell you about me! 

I am a wife to my high school sweetheart, the youngest child of 5 kids, mom of identical twin girls, work at home mom, and animal lover to the core!

We have two boxers...an albino boxer named Martini and a brindle boxer named Tyson.  Those two dogs have a better life than most kids. 
We live in Northern, CA...where I was born and raised.  I went to college in Ashland, OR and then moved back to my hometown to raise a family.  It's a beautiful small town community and we love it!

I lost my voice when I was 29 (now I'm 33) after I caught a cold...and never got my voice back.  So I have a permanently raspy voice...ughh!

I LOVE party planning...and being blessed with twins I believe is a reason to have a HUGE birthday party every year...we have pulled off some really good ones.  My favorite was their 5 yr old birthday...it was a Carnival...and I do everything super inexpensive as I know a lot of people with a lot of talents. *wink *wink  We had a magician (who also did balloon animals...bonus!), cotton candy machine, face painting, all the carnival booths, etc.  It was awesome!  The girls loved it!
See picture to the left...the yard of our old house before the kids arrived

We are in the process of planning their party for this year which is on the 29th of this month when they will be 7 yrs old.  We are doing a Luau!  I can't wait...I'll post pictures directly following the party for sure. :)

I watch little to NO TV...NO NEWS...there are times when I watch a program with my husband...usually "Modern Family" which is a friggin hilarious! Why?  Because I believe the filter of news is so negative and there is SO much good that goes on out there.  I am committed to making so much good out there and I believe that what you put into yourself is what you are going to put out...for example, garbage (like news) in, garbage out...good in, good out! 

I love animals, love to travel, love scrapbooking and crafts and love to read.

I work from home and feel blessed every single day to be able to be a room mom to my twin girls, I'm in charge of my own schedule, and am a really hard worker knowing that with what I do...if I work really hard for about 5 years, I won't have to work hard for the rest of my life.

I am a committed Christian and am thankful every day for the lessons and blessings that the Lord brings.

As much as we try to live a "normal" life..we have a pretty crazy life style...working from home I have a deal with my husband (who works for our city that we live in)...that if he and I work together, I can run my business really hard right now so that we can enjoy the rest of our lives.  With that comes the craziness...so my husband does the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and the night time routine with my girls.  I am blessed to be able to take them to school, pick them up, volunteer in their classes every week and get to have a couple of hours with them after school every day.  Our kids are our whole lives!

I am a complete mother bear...I don't trust ANYONE around my kids.  I say ANYONE...but have to correct that, my mom has my girls as much as I do and I will let very select family members have my girls over night at their houses.  Why?  Because you can't trust anyone with your children.  I know that we are to teach our children how to handle situations that they may be put in...and we do that.  But I am also a firm believer that it is our job to NOT put them in those situations.  Just yesterday we learned about VERY close friends of ours (they divorced and lived in separate houses) and the dad had a room mate for years and years...a friend of his from child hood and just found out that this "room mate" not only molested his own children but allegedly molested my friends two girls as well!!   There were MANY times that the dad left the kids at home with this roommate by themselves. 

So I am 100% committed to having the coolest house on the block so my kids will want to be home and all their friends will want to be here too...so far it's worked out pretty good. :)

I love blogging...I started in October of 2009 and just did it for an outlet...but have met so many amazing people, learned from so many others experiences...especially from identical twins and moms of identical twins.  It's a complete network of moms and friends that I wouldn't have ever had otherwise.

I am excited to be a part of the blog party...and hope you hop on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and take part in it too.

There are so many cool prizes to be won at this year’s Ultimate Blog Party, but my top three picks would be:

• Toshiba Satellite L505D-ES5025
• Be My Guest Certificate ($250 value) for a two night stay in the Hilton Garden Inn By bloggin2noggin
• USC17 - $200 gift certificate to Apple by CmomGo

And if my top three picks are already chosen, I’d love any of the following (in order of preference):
7, 70, 112, 95, 49, 31, 32, 65, 105, 96, 111, 85, 67 ( or anything to do with little girls...as I have 7 year old identical twin girls.)

I am a featured blogger...check it out!

Jerrica over at Something to Talk About has started a new meme every Sunday called "No Stranger Sunday"...each week she interviews and features a blogger to help others get to know each other better...hence the name "No Stranger". 

This week I am proud to be the featured blogger...please click on the above "No Stranger Sunday" link and don't forget to leave a comment.  

If you would like to be featured on this meme, leave Jerrica a comment with your email address included and she will get back to you.

God bless you all and Happy Sunday!

My 100th Post...yay!

I have just gone over 100 posts and can't believe how much I have learned about the blogging world in such a short time.  I started blogging in October of last year and had never even read but one blog before in my life.  I have a really good friend over at Garibay Soup and she has blogged for a couple of years and really inspired me to get started. 

I absolutely had no idea WHAT I was doing.  I just started writing.  Then along the way I learned more and more...I wanted to share with those brand new bloggers out there what I have learned over the last couple of months and would appreciate any other advice, suggestions, even criticism...I learn by my mistakes and am not too proud to admit it. :)

• How did I choose my name...well I have twins and its really them that inspires me to write this blog...hence "Twin-spiration".
• One of the first things I learned was NOT to write a novel.  Keep them short and sweet.  I know it seems that I still write long posts, but you have to check out my very first one......you will see that slowly but surely I am learning how to say what I want in less words.  Really good lesson!
• Another thing I learned early on was that when you're writing...put space between the paragraphs.  Click enter twice before starting the next paragraph.
• I learned how to be a part of the blog carnivals.  I wanted so bad to know how to do this and tried to teach myself and I know Amanda at Garibay Soup will laugh when she remembers my first attempt at them.  I had NO CLUE!  I enjoy the carnivals a lot!
• PICTURES...always have a picture either personal or from the web...for every post.  That is a big deal in blog world...so I learned.

• I learned Photoshop because I wanted so badly to have a cute banner at the top and a "button" that so many others have.  So I learned photoshop and made my banner and button...again thanks Amanda at Garibay Soup.
• You have to be able to laugh at yourself.
• I learned how theraputic and fun blogging is.  I love the idea of writing everything down because as much as I want to remember everything, it's never going to happen.  It also allows you to learn from your experiences as you write it down...what to and not to do.
• And lastly...I learned that there is a company out there that will take your blog at the end of the year and turn it into a "yearbook style" book!  That is awesome to me.  I can print two, one for each of my girls, and that's something they will cherish for ever.  So basically we are journaling their lives for them.

With that...thank you to everyone out there for your comments, for following me, for voting for me, for the lessons you have taught me directly or indirectly, for accepting me into this world of amazing moms, women and men!  Here's to many, many more posts to enjoy together.  I still have SO MUCH MORE to learn.

God bless you!

Where to begin...

This is my first go at the whole "blog" thing.  I have a good friend of mine who writes about her life and daily experiences and I was thinking how fun it is to read.  Then I thought, I probably have a lot to offer moms and families with sharing the experiences we go through, good and bad.
To begin, I will tell you a little about us...we live in a very small town where I was born and raised.  It's one of those towns where literally, "everyone knows your name".  That made for some pretty interesting times going to school here and having my mom know what went on at school before we even got home.
I am the baby of 5 kids (four girls and one boy).  My mom had three kids, waiting 10 years and had two more.  My sister and I that are the youngest are 11 months and 3days apart.  It has always made me laugh my whole life when my moms says..."and I planned it that way."  Who plans to be pregnant for two years...seriously!  My mom is the best mom in the world...she is human and has her faults as we all do, but is truly the best mom role model anyone could want.  Not to mention...she raised all 5 of us by herself.
I am married to my high school sweetheart, Adam.  He has to be the most easy going guy on the face of the earth.  We are happily married and have been for 7 1/2 years.  Over the last year has probably been one of our most challenging years ever...however we are very committed to marriage and will always do whatever we can to make it work. 
And then my whole life...my sweet, precious girls, Emilie and Erynn.  They are 6 year old identical twins and are the best blessing one could ever be given. :)  My pregnancy with them was awesome...I decided during the first month that those pregnant woman that use pregnancy as an "excuse" to be mean, eat everything they want and be very demanding...I wasn't going to be one of those.  I said to myself, "being happy during pregnancy is a mindset and I want to be a blessing to be around."  And so I was...at least if you ask me.
Through this blog you will hear my views on:

• Motherhood - which I believe is the single most important job you could ever have in your life. 
• Marriage - which many would tell you Im lucky to have my husband becuase no one else would put up with me, I beg to differ. 
• Faith- which comes first in our lives
• My philosophies on Life - I belive life is what we make it and our future depends on our decisions and choices we make now.
• Attitude - Mindset is what life is all about
• Parties - I LOVE to plan parties...I planned my 10 year high school reunion and my wedding single handedly...and I plan my girls parties a year in advance every year and can't wait to share with you the awesome parties we have had.
• And many more... basically daily life...and how we live it.

I hope you get inspired, have ah ha moments, get parenting advice on what to do and what not to do, and basically learn from us as you go through our adventure we call "life" with us.