This little one could care less about moving around and is completely comfortable letting you know when she wants something!
She's perfectly content sitting and playing, especially when she has a little person in each hand!
...but I see a hint of mischief in those eyes!

...watch out!
She's on the move!
(sort of)

Remember that teacher you saw the other day...?

Well, here she is in real life.
She seems to have her own way of encouraging demanding attention from Audrey Kate...
and Anne Perry has something to say about it!

...so I think she has a little training before she can put things into practice.

As I was attempting to put our kitchen back together one afternoon, I heard Addie talking to her {animal babies}.

And this is what I heard (after a minimum of 6 takes, I got it on video!!!)...
liserty and justice for all!

I did it Mommy, I did it!

Love that kid.

My dear friend Allison blessed our family immensely by spending the day at the hospital with us when the twins were born. What a priceless gift!

So when my sweet friend Anna's sister-in-law (a professional like Allison and DiAnna!) had to be out of town for Kennedy's birth, I was honored to be asked to spend the day with them.

Honored and just a tad intimidated!

But after 2nd shooting two weddings with Allison, I felt a little {not much, just a little} more confident in at least documenting the day in pictures for them. I made sure they knew they would not be professional quality, but that I'd do my best to capture the memories!

Because that's what it's all about...capturing the memories. Right?

You can go here to see the snapshots of their day. 

Thank you Anna! Kennedy is just beautiful and perfect in every way!

Part A:
Anne Perry tested positive for the {flu} Friday afternoon.

The type B version that apparently pays no heed to the flu vaccine I succumbed all 5 of us to months ago. 

102 fever.

Good explanation for Audrey Kate's fever a week ago and current snottyness.

Good explanation for Addie's fever two weeks ago and current cough and snottyness.
Part B:
Paul also went to the doctor Friday.

No flu. No pneumonia.

Worse {cough} ever, to the point that he couldn't stop.

So he spent the weekend in the bed, doped up on cough medicine, sleeping so he wouldn't {cough up a lung}

And I am once again super thankful for my {mom}

It's now Monday.
Daddy stayed home from work.

Lower fevers.

{Less} coughing.

More snottyness.

Part C: Abbey
This actually didn't happen this weekend, but I think I'm slowly coming to grips with it...this weekend.

{Abbey}, our first baby...four legged baby, will be 9 in February.
She started developing Mast Cell Tumors about a year and a half ago.

Removed one. Six months later, another one. A year later, it's removed. Six months later another three removed. {One} month later, she has 10-12, rapidly growing knots on her sweet body. And I am sad.

They itch. She scratches. They turn to sores. Blood. Infection. Obvious pain. Need to be removed.

So here we are. We can't remove 10-12 of them. One incision can be up to 6 inches long to get clear margins. Not to mention the cost. Chemotherapy doesn't work unless they are removed. And then it's not a sure thing.

And she is a dog. And that's kinda where we draw the line. 

More will return. And they will grow.

For now, we do benadryl and prednisone.

And {wait}.

And I am sad. Very sad.

But on a happier {significantly less serious} note...
Part D: (not technically the weekend anymore...but that's ok!)
A steal of a deal to blow this Monday out of the water!!!

Am@zon.com

15% off using Am@zon Mom

15% off using Subscribe and Save

20% off using Parents Magazine coupon code I've been saving.

$39.75 box of 106 size 3 diapers.

(yes, yes. we still use cloth diapers quite frequently at home. but i have to recognize my limitations and meet somewhere in the middle of solely cloth diapering and solely using disposables...)

Less 15% =  - $5.9625

Less 15% =  - $5.9625

Less 20% = - $7.95

Total = $19.87

Paid using $20 gift certificate bought for only $10 on daily deal site.

Cost for a box of $39.75 box of 106 size 3 diapers...

$10

That would be .06 cents a diapers instead of the typical .25! Score!

Happy (Random) Monday!

Redirect: here!

November 19: the disappearance of the wall...(and cabinets)
November 29: the first hole. it grew to about 6 times this (and that is no exaggeration)
January 3: the range.
January 21: so close. oh.so.close.

Although we are far from this project being complete...

Yesterday we got to move our fake pantry out of the girl's bathroom and into our real kitchen.

And I had a little help...
A few of us even got to eat in the kitchen...on a permanent counter top instead of a temporary piece of plywood.
And we christened

with baths for everyone!
And washed our dinner dishes in a dishwasher!

Many more pictures to come!

We have a winner for the CSN gift card!

There were 33 comments on the post.

According to Random.org, the winner is #2: Mandy Mc!
Congratulations Mandy!

Thanks to everyone who participated! 

Make sure to hop on over to this post and comment for a chance to win $35 from CSN Stores!

In fact, you have EIGHT chances!

Make sure to leave your comment entries on the original post, not this one; and leave a separate comment for each entry!

...PANTIES!

We've been working on potty training for, oh, I don't know how long. Four months? Six Months? Eight? I was determine that I wasn't going to {drag} daytime potty training out over months and months. We were going to potty train in a day week less than a month?

I don't know what my expectations were, but I don't think I fully factored in 1.) having twins, 2.) how difficult outings would be with three, 3.) my very thick headed two year old, 4.) our house/kitchen being in complete upheaval!!!

And she just flat out didn't care!

We {talked} about it. We {sang} about it. We {danced} about it!

We went through stickers, M&Ms, peanut (big) M&Ms, skittles, prize boxes, suckers, gummy worms, gum drops, and slushes.

...and bags and bags of Pull-Ups!

She would do great at home and the minute I'd put her in the car, she would have an accident in.her.car.seat!

So I decided to put it on the back burner. No big deal. Potty when she wants to. Happy dance when she's dry. Pullups when we're out and even sometimes at home. 

Apparently {she} had to be ready. Not me!

It had to be time for {her}, not convenient for me.

But all of a sudden, something happened. She was always dry and asked to potty when she needed to. We bit the bullet. No more pull-ups except for nap time (and she most often wakes up dry anyway, but I'm not ready to change sheets yet).

I can count the number of accidents she's had since Christmas on one hand (or maybe 3 fingers). 

100% panties at {home}

100% panties at {gramma's} and {grandpas} for fake Christmas.

100% panties at {school}! Yes, at school, on somebody else's watch!
So we celebrated with a Nancy's Italian Ice. Mommy got one too.

And we haven't looked back!

UPDATE: Give Away Closed. We have a winner!

Original Post:
I love being able to shop online.

And I love being able to go to one site and find almost anything I need or even want!

CSN.com is one of those sites. CSN Stores have over 200 online shops where you can find everything from stylish furniture to modern bedding to great cookware! The twins cribs actually came from this site, where I found the best deal on exactly what I wanted!

So when they contacted me about doing a giveaway, I was all about it! CSN has graciously offered to give one of my readers a promotional code worth $35 that can be used on any product at any of their sites!

That's right, one of you will win a $35 gift card to spend at any CSN Store!

• follow me using the widget in the right hand column (1 entry)
• "like" CSN Stores on Facebook (1 entry)
• blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your post (3 entries)
• post it on your Facebook page (2 entries)

That's eight chances to win!

Make sure to leave each entry as a separate comment (so if you blog about it, leave 3 comments and include the blog post link in at least one of them) and let me know a way to contact you if you're the winner (email address, link to your blog where contact information is available, etc).

The contest will close Tuesday, January 18th at 9am CST. A winner will be chosen using the Random Generator sometime that day!

I will contact the winner via email and you'll have 48 hours to respond before I pick a new winner.

But what's a post without a picture? Our girls just happened to be posing in their crib bought at CSN Stores just so you could see how much they like it!
Really...they were!

Last year, we decided we'd make the Zoo Lights with Chad, Mandy, and Cady an annual tradition.

We left our little ones at home with RieRie and headed out on one of the coldest nights we'd seen in a long time (or at least that's how i remember it!).

Chad with Addie and Paul with Cady
It's funny because Cady used to always want to hug on Addie, but the tables have turned and Addie always wants to hug on Cady! I'm so thankful they are sweet friends!
Mr. Chad being silly. I'm pretty sure someone was being fussy at the time and that someone was probably named {Addie}!
But there isn't much a sweet kiss on the cheek won't fix!
Mandy, Cady, and Chad
Chicken fight anyone? No. Not at the Zoo Lights! Just two little girls who love to be on their Daddy's shoulders!
Thanks for going to the Zoo Lights again with us Chad, Mandy, and Cady! We can't wait to go again next year!

---------
On another note, we'll be having a serious give away at this here blog in the next day or so. So make sure to come back and visit to find out all the details! 

So I'm backtracking here.

Christmas posts: done.

Baby's 7 month post: done.

Still to come:

Lots from December:

Kindermusik Christmas gathering, Zoo Lights with the Egglestons, lots of Randomness.

And then there was the wedding that I second shot with my very talented friend Allison in mid-December.

Then the babies turned 8 months! Oh my!

And I just got home from another wedding with Allison. Lot's of wonderfulness to process!

But this one is all about Gramma and Papa Al. They came to visit at the beginning of December. You may remember a picture or two (and story) that I posted here. Our house was, well, in complete upheaval. A ginormous hole in the middle of our unfinished kitchen. Dust everywhere. Wait, there's still dust everywhere!

So instead of hanging around here and playing, we went to the Zoo Lights, our neighborhood tree lighting, church, out to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and to Kindermusik. It was a super fun 3 days and a tremendous break from being at home!

We started at the Zoo Lights.

Waiting in a very long line for the train:
Gramma and Anne Perry
Daddy and Audre Kate
Of course Addie loved seeing the lights!
Want to see her favorite Zoo Lights? Check out her face here with Papa Al!

All because she was looking at this:
You might not be able to see it, but these frogs were jumping into a tree! Every time one would jump, she would yell DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!?!?

Oh how I love the uninhibited enthusiasm of a two year old!

We also took Gramma and Papa Al to Addie's last Kindermusik class.
Addie was super excited to have her baby sisters there...
but even more excited to have someone to play with just her!
She jumped right in and helped Ms. Sarah read the story.
One of Addie's favorite things is to dance with the scarves.
And this right here shows the difference between little girls and little boys: our sweet friend Thomas, who looks more like a bandit here!
This is Thomas leaning against his Mama's tummy. His new baby sister is planned to arrive a week from yesterday!
And this is Thomas hugging Addie. Sweet friends!
 Addie "dusting" with her duster. I wonder if we could transfer this to home!
Thank you Gramma and Papa Al for a fun-filled weekend! We look forward to you coming back soon, hopefully to a finished kitchen!