Thankful Thursday

It's been a while, but I thought of it and it is actually Thursday. Cool.
1. I am thankful for Lowell and his gift of an ipod. It's funny how the gifts you would never buy for yourself become the best ones. The ones you use every single day. The ones you revisit your fav bands from the 90s with, playing air drums in the car, and cutting people off with.
2. I am thankful that this is what I had to look at on my drive to work today (whilst rocking out to Cake):

This is Timp from my parking stall at work. I love it covered with snow and today's blue sky was fantastic.

3. I am thankful for puzzles and for Aunt Becky introducing us to them. Who knew my kids would go so crazy for them? My can't sit still for 30 seconds, failed Nursery kids, who can "play puzzles" for seriously an hour+. Here they are today:

If you look you can see Carter has already finished 3 puzzles (12 pieces each) and is working on the 4th. All without any help! In fact I was downstairs doing a wii fit workout while he was working on these. It buys me that much time. So awesome! Becky got them these: http://gifts.barnesandnoble.com/Toys-games/My-First-Puzzles-Trucks/e/9780789465092/?itm=1 and they were great for beginners. And then we added these: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Construction-Puzzles/dp/B000Q78AX6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1232071349&sr=8-13 Actually 4 sets of those. Each has 4 puzzles all in a nice divided box for $10. So worth the money!

4. I am thankful for the UVMOM mom's night out last night. It is so wonderful to get together with these ladies and remember that I do have real live friends that live close to me (thanks for the reminder Lyndsie ;)). We just ate and talked at Zuppa's and it was delightful. What kind of conversation would keep you talking for an hour! after the store closed, standing outside when it is 20 degrees and not even running to the car to get your jacket? Only the kind involving dear friends and not wanting it to end. I always feel like my kids are a little more normal by the end of mom's night out. Twin boys have their very own dynamic and only other twin moms seem to get it, not even grandmas, or siblings, or aunts/uncles of twins. And there were 3 of us with 3 year old twin boys all in a row.

5. I am thankful the kids are finally starting to get a little better. Sheesh this has been a nasty round of sick for us. Davis started it off with a cough and slight fever. Then Carter had a parallel round of nasty diarrhea. Then they traded so they both had both! Carter took the worst of it as he was already so weakened from the diarrhea that the cough hit him hard. He looked awful yesterday! We took today off from the gym (hence the wii fit work out and jammies all day) and just played at home. Davis and I made these:

for the birds. It was a bigger mess than I expected, surprise surprise, but fun none the less. And maybe just maybe he got the bigger picture about caring for God's creatures. All I know for sure is when we were done he was eating the peanut butter off the knife (plastic children's spreader) which still had bird seed stuck to it and then flapping his wings and telling me he was a bird. I was actually very proud of his potty training success today, even with the rank dairrhea little man Davis had no accidents which meant he pooped in the potty multiple times over the last couple days. Maybe this extremely icky turn of events will have a positive influence on the boy. Carter wasn't as successful and it was too gross so we employed the diapers for a couple of days. You win some you lose some. A week full of mucus and diarrhea can never end too soon.

6. Had to sneak one more in--I am grateful for my sister-in-law Melinda for taking the boys Tuesday night so we could have a break from it all and go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I really enjoyed it--plus Brad Pitt for 3 hours is never a bad thing ;).

I'd say I was grateful for The Nightmare Before Christmas but I am SO sick of that movie already! I think it is really odd for 3 year olds to be obsessed with it anyway, what a weird movie. And then to watch it and the bonus features on a continuous loop for 2 days, ack!

To break up the fun, last night we went to farm country hoping the dry cool air would help with Carter's chest congestion (it didn't--he coughed so hard afterwards that he threw up, don't you wish you were here?) and we got to milk a cow! Yes that means me too, Lowell laughed at me but I really wanted to try it, it fondly reminded me of my own milking days-ha! I have to say when you can pump 36 oz at one sitting you certainly begin feeling like a cow. Here's the pics:

Carter--the angle was really hard to get a good shot, but you can just see the milk going into the bucket

And Davis. We then watched them feed the milk to the baby cows, so sweet! Then we just had to take our sickies home 'cuz they weren't feeling it!

And just for fun and homage to those milking days, here's Davis from this morning:

Yes he thought of that himself, he told me "Look Mommy I'm big like you!".

One last note--for those still thinking about refinancing, I am actually switching my mortgage guy to our friend of the family, Mike, who is going to be watching the rates for me and telling me when to lock. So when I know, I'll let you know! And if you want to fill out an application with him so you are ready when the time comes, let me know and I will hook you up with the details. He also has great rates and fees and was my Sunday school way back in the day. He is one of my dad's best friends and did so much while my dad was away--visiting him frequently, putting us up when we visited, and providing the discount plane tickets which were a life saver to our whole family for that 3 years of separation. So . . .I can vouch for his character.