Disney-fied

Check out this photo:Wearing Mickey ears, playing a Winnie the Pooh computer, with a Mickey doll nearby. We love our Disney. :) Have you noticed the Disney ticker at the bottom of the page? Not too long now. Although, I don't really want to hurry to get to Disney, because that will mean that our trip to the States is almost over.

Speaking of our trip to the States, we're leaving next Friday, the 11th. I'm getting a little nervous, okay a lot nervous, about the plane ride. We're taking a direct flight from Doha to Washington, DC. 14 hours! Then, we have a long layover before we fly to STL. I went to the store to buy some cheap, quiet toys that will hopefully hold the twins' interest. The plan is that if they've never seen the toys, they'll want to play with them longer. And, we'll take our portable DVD player, but it only holds a charge for 5 or 6 hours, so we'll have to use it sparingly. Benadryl only makes them crabby, so that's not an option. :) Anyone have any other ideas?

No self-esteem problems here

Mommy's shoes

Words!

In an attempt to keep the twins awake on the way home when we stay out a little too far into the afternoon, I started saying "whee!" as we screeched up the ramp to the third floor of our parking garage. Recently, I can't tell you the kick I get out of hearing cries of "whee!" out of my newly verbal Nicky in his adorable imitation.

Catie is now charming everyone she sees with a little beauty pageant wave and the cutest "bye, bye" I've ever heard.

Does anyone else think this is funny?

I bought these this morning at Carrefours. Last time I bought them, I tried to explain to Bradley why the name was so funny to me, but the humor was lost on him. Now you're all going to be looking too deeply into it. It's just that they've smooshed two famous toilet paper manufacturer's names together to make up a new one. (This is where you do a pretend laugh, just to be nice to me.)

Sharing my newest scrapbook pages

You've already seen all these pictures, but this is what I did with them.

Video 2 again

Video 1 again

25 Things I Miss about the States (in no particular order)

Three weeks until we go home for 2 months!

Things I miss (and will eat/do/see as soon as possible)
1. Cool Whip
2. Michael's
3. People who use turn signals
4. Friends and family
5. Large grassy areas
6. Rain
7. Clearance racks
8. Hobby Lobby
9. Walmart
10. Target
11. Garage sales
12. Bacon
13. Church buildings
14. Sidewalks
15. Stop signs
16. Sonic
17. Cracker Barrel
18. Colby Jack cheese
19. JC Penney portrait studio
20. Walgreens
21. Decent pots and pans
22. Tender, juicy meat
23. Museums
24. Corn fields
25. Sleeveless shirts

Videos

Sorry these don't have sound, but they'll give you a good idea of how well the twins get around and how big they've gotten. By the way, Nick is wearing Catie's hat; I don't usually put him in things that have hearts all over them, but he insisted.

Giving in

This week has been one break-through after another. While teaching Nick, both he and Catie picked up the word "more" which has made my life just that much easier (read: I don't have to listen to screaming all day long.) Yesterday, Nick starting saying "ball." I am officially not worried about his speech. And, today I took Catie to get her hair cut. I still have mixed emotions about it. I've agonized over this decision longer than I ever agonized about my own hair. You see, it all started when I was pregnant and found out that I was having a boy and a girl. I vowed right then and there that no one would ever have to wonder about Catie's gender. Surprisingly, we've had relatively few people get it wrong, mostly due to the fact that Catie has had 500 times more hair than Nick since birth. I'd like to continue that until her gender is obvious no matter how short or long her hair is (read: puberty.) Why, you may ask? Perhaps I was traumatized by my page boy haircut in the 3rd grade. Maybe it was my short permed hair (read: Grandma hair) in the 1st grade. Maybe it was the time when I was 10 and the man at the fruit stand on the side of the road told my mom that she had some cute boys. Yes, I still remember that. As much as I want Catie to avoid these traumatizing experiences, I also was getting to the point where I couldn't stand how straggly her hair was looking. So, I had the stylist cut off as little as possible, but still even it out. Here's the result:

It's so short! Sigh.... It's only hair; it will grow. It's only hair; it will grow. It's only hair; it will grow...

Update on Nicky and Happy Father's Day!

My son is a stinker. That's all there is to it. After months of worrying, this week he came out with the fact that he really does know a lot of words. In the past few days he has said: more, shoe, Catie, cookie, uh-oh, and no. He's been saying uh-oh for a while now, but he was always copying Catie. Now, he says it when he knows he dropped something or when something's wrong. Further evidence of his stinkery-ness? He says "no" all the time, to answer any question, except when he wants something, then he answers by his silence. If he really wants something he screams in frustration. He learned that trick from his sister. We're working on that. A few times a day, he'll ask for something by saying more, which is a lot nicer and we try to answer that request right away.

I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to all the men in my life, my husband, my dad, my father-in-law, and my grandpa. You are all great dads, and I hope you all have wonderful days! Now I'm off to cook some pancakes and eggs for my hubby....

Free Rice

I just found this website on another blog, and it's really fun. It's a vocabulary game that determines your skill level and then helps you to learn new words. For every correct answer you get, the sponsors send 20 grains of rice to developing countries. In about 15 minutes, I "donated" 2,000 grains of rice. I'll put the banner here and also on the sidebar.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is our plan for this week:

Monday--Chicken Cordon Bleu (Pretty sure I'm going to make some changes to make it healthier, but use this recipe as a starting off point. Also, I probably won't make it in the microwave as the recipe suggests.)
Tuesday--Fajitas (minus tortillas)
Wednesday--Broccoli Cheese Soup
Thursday--Western Chicken Chunks (I've been wanting these again since the last time I made them.)
Friday--Chef Salad

Finished all of my Egypt scrapbook pages

Popcorn

I have a confession to make: I fed my kids popcorn for lunch yesterday. They were so crabby after church there was no way they were going to make it to nap time, so I put them to bed at 11:00 am. When they finally woke up at 3 pm (I told you they were exhausted!) it seemed silly to feed them lunch, so I popped a bag of popcorn for them. They loved it! (They've never had more than a few pieces here and there when Mommy and Daddy had some.) So, of course, I had to get out my camera to document the experience. :)
Here's Nick shoving 3 or 4 pieces in his mouth at a time while watching the tv intently. Like father, like son. LOL, just kidding, Bradley.
Catie says, "Peek-a-boo!" She's looking around the camera to see me. Sometimes it's the only way I can get her to look at the camera. :)Here's a full-length shot of Catie in her new dress so that Grandma Herzog can see how adorable she looks in it. :) I can't believe how big they've gotten lately. It's a 24 month dress. This is the first time since they've been born that they're wearing clothes in a larger size than their age.

And just in case you were wondering:

I didn't think I was that nerdy. Usually these kind of tests ask questions about computers and sci-fi, and this one did, but it also had questions that I remember from high school. Since it's been almost ten years since I graduated, I guess that's what makes me a nerd, lightly or otherwise. :)

What kind of mother hen are you?

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

My new camera lens

I used a gift certificate that my brother and his wife gave us to buy a new camera lens, and it came yesterday! For those of you who care, it's a Nikkor 55-200 AF-S VR. For those of you who don't care, it's a good zoom lens. So, of course, as soon as I took it out of its box, I attached it to my camera and started taking pictures of my favorite subjects. Here's the result:

When I tried to take close-ups with my other lens, I usually ended up with pictures of the kids trying to get the camera. Now I can be a paparazzi momma. :)

Menu Plan Monday

We went out to dinner on Friday night, and then we broke down on Saturday and ordered pizza, which we finished up tonight, so I didn't finish the plan last week.
So, here's this week's plan:

Monday: Tikka Masala (an Indian chicken dish) with rice and hummus
Tuesday: Chef Salad
Wednesday: White Chicken Chili (didn't get to it last week)
Thursday: Meatloaf
Friday: Beef and Broccoli stir-fry

A Recipe for you:

Low-Carb Meatloaf (I know, you would think that meatloaf was low-carb, but ketchup and barbeque sauce have a lot of sugar!)

1 lb ground beef
1 cup salsa
1 egg
1/2 onion
a little tiny bit of bread crumbs to help it stick together (or 1/3 cup if you don't care about carbs)
1/2 tsp garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything. Place in greased loaf pan and cook at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes until browned all the way through.