Best (non-English) Email Ever

The Chicklets went to my mom's yesterday after a brief visit to the Indiana Historical Society. I haven't heard what they were doing -- probably made jello & learned some more sewing skills -- and as luck would have it, I received this right before I went to bed. ::sigh::

---

From: Crab

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:30:03 +0000 (UTC)

To: Suz

Subject: Goodnight!

Just wanted to say goodnight, mommers!

God bless you I love you! Fe te bolev shettem o plumrsee (those are the French words that I can't spell) I love you mommy goodnight! I'm now blowing you a kiss! Mwa whooo! :)

XOXOXOXOXOXO

LOVE, CRAB ^.^

---

I absolutely LOVE her attempt at writing in French.  Though it makes me think I may need to read some picture books to her (again) as she obviously has NO IDEA what the language looks like anymore!

Spring Break (on a budget)

Geez, you'd think we never feed these kids.

Turtles!

Sapper

YellyBird

Crabbycat

We had a very peaceful (if short) spring break, courtesy of friends from church.

Fave memories include:

• trying on hats at a toy store in Nashville, Indiana
• eating a Lenten Friday dinner at Harvest Moon Pizza
• listening to and watching birds on Cordry Lake
• reading books in the marvelously pleasant weather
• hiking in Brown County State Park
• drying off Yell after she overturned her kayak and fell in the lake
• watching kids chase each other with water guns
• just being with friends

Thanks M family!

Saving Money & Winning Stuff

This week I've been reallllllly concentrating on saving money on the stuff we need and use on a regular basis. Cutting coupons, checking ads, checking what BargainBriana has to say, and...not eating.

Because I've had this stomach bug since last Friday. It was painful, had Sapper worried about me (while he was out of town), and has resolved itself into leftover diarrhea (blah) and a nasty head cold. But yesterday I couldn't bring myself to eat the banana I had brought for breakfast. The thought of it made me feel all gaggy. Blech. I have enough sinus drainage filling me, so I skipped breakfast. Then lunchtime came & went. I couldn't bring myself to eat yogurt - thinking dairy could upset my stomach AGAIN - so I skipped it. Then dinner was a major rush because the chicklets went to a friend's house to practice for a music presentation & I was all

• lets rush to get an eBay auction sent
• lets get the Kroger list/coupons ready
• lets put away all the stuff we just got at CVS (where I saved $11.26 using coupons AND got $16 extra care bucks, woot!)
• lets give the girls leftovers because Lord knows there are enough of them in the fridge to feed half of Kenya
• lets get out the door quickly because these grumpy kids need their sleep so I'll have to pick them up in about an hour
• bye love you, see you in an hour
• Kroger Kroger Kroger Kroger (where I saved $27 using coupons/Cellfire/Shortcut$)
• come on, we've got to go, Mattie needs to go to bed, stop singing, I heard you from downstairs, get your shoes on, lets go!
• unload the car, put away the groceries, put the bags back in the car
• Whew!

so in case you were wondering, I never had dinner.

Maybe that's why I had such an atrocious dream about one of my cousins last night? Or why I totally forgot about my chiropractor's appointment this morning? I have no idea. But I did eat my banana this morning. And I found a second one in my purse courtesy of my little Yellybird. I may eat the yogurt for lunch, but I may have the banana instead. My stomach still feels queasy, but the diarrhea hasn't come back so far today. So maybe the day off from food did the trick?

Who knows.

Also this week, I won a giveaway from TwinHappy where I participated in the weekly TwinTuesday by blogging about our choice of names for the twins. Go me!

Last, but definitely not least, today I found out I won a What's In The Bible giveaway from Mami and the Multiples. I'm thinking I may have a really cool video to share with Scooby and Niece-ling on their next visit. Shazam!

Though I still have a nagging cough and my eyes look like I've been punched in the face, I'm feeling better about life in general. Not too shabby a week (if you exclude the part where I've been working on our taxes...oi...lets just skip that conversation).

What do you think? Is the week looking better or what?

Crab and Yell, the reason behind the rhyme

Way back when...a million or so sleepwalks ago...we found out we were pregnant with twins. Twins run in my family. Rampantly. My great uncle & his brother were twins. My aunt & uncle are fraternal twins. My cousins are fraternal twins. And when my doctor told me we were having twins, I assumed fraternal.

We found out the gender of Baby A. She was very accommodating.

Her twin was not. She carefully hid her 'parts' for the duration.

So while we were able to settle on a name for A, B was rather nameless. She was an idea, a thought, a kick in the gallbladder, but nameless.

Since the babies were conceived on the date of Princess Diana's funeral, and Mother Teresa's death, I thought briefly about Teresa Diane for Baby B. A name she spurns. ::sigh::

But Baby A's name means, "Father's Joy." And that she is. No matter how grumpy she is in the morning, how obstinate, how hateful, she can wave her little finger at her daddy and be in his good graces. We chose Crab's name because we liked it, but it suits her perfectly.

Baby B, at two days old, was given the name of my sorority sister. A sorority sister who had to have a complete hysterectomy before age 25. My Chi Omega sister is unable to bear her own children, but her caring, fun, giving, generous nature lives on in my daughter. My daughter whose name means "Fierce Warrior." My strong little baby who could stand at six weeks old. My fierce little Yellybird who fights to protect her sister.

I never imagined their names could be so wisely chosen, or so special.

We Catholics Believe in Sharing

My uncle shared this story with me.  I wish 'Our Lady of Hospitality' would have gotten video. 

Believe it or not? 'Our Lady of Hospitality' came home from work today and while standing at the counter in the kitchen heard a noise out back on the deck. So she went to check it out and noticed an opossum. I had seen one in the yard the day befor but didn't make much of it because they are plentiful around here but had never been seen on the deck.


The funny part ... the varmint had found a bottle of chardonay cooling out there, chewed the seal off, got the cork out somehow or other and proceeded to have an afternoon libation. 'Our Lady of Hospitality' stood there watching the critter drain the bottle, licking it up as fast as he could.  He had tipped the bottle over on its side, and when it stopped flowing out he put his paw on the neck of the bottle and continued slurping it up until no more would come out.  Then he climbed off the deck and went over and laid down on the grass next to the house.  Guess he was a little under the influence. 

There went a good bottle of wine, but he was probably a happy camper the rest of the day.  He had wandered off by the time I came home, but 'Our Lady of Hospitality' was well entertained for a while.

So much for a short story?

Pop/T J/Uncle Popeye 

Thanks for sharing, Uncle Popeye!  And Our Lady of Hospitality, thanks for sharing your wine --  I'll bring a bottle next time I'm in town & we can commiserate over your loss  ;)

Hi!

Wow, it's been so long since it's been above 20 degrees! It felt like summer when I first came out of school today! Yeah, thank you God for sending us warmth!

Aaaaaagh! (yes, I'm a teensy bit FRUSTRATED!)

I just repeated myself 3 times.

To the same person.

And the listener insisted, "I still don't understand."

What part of: "He would like a copy of the memo you released to the public on such-and-such-a-date" is so impossible to understand?!?

GAH!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Junior Stole My Heart

Junior
Originally uploaded by crabnyell

Oh my gosh, look at THOSE EYES! This little guy came to visit us a little over 2 months ago. He's small, silly, sweet, and loves cars. And he loves Cars. He personally asked Santa for "Fwo an Doc an Wamone" not just once, but twice.

He lives far away from us -- with his parents as it should be -- but having him here overnight was the best Christmas present I could have had.

Yell drew his name in our 'cousins gift exchange'. She knew he 'loved Cars.' She also knew that she had to stick to the $ limit. I think God smiled on her the day we went to the store. She found not just Doc, but also Wamone and Fwo for just UNDER the limit.

And as soon as he opened his Cars, he was the happiest little boy in the whole world. Fwo an Doc an Wamone didn't leave his sight the entire 24 hours he stayed at our house.

At the tender age of 3, he hadn't spent the night at anyone's house without his parents. God smiled on me that night. His younger cousin, Nallie, had a wretched cough that kept me from sleeping much. Junior snuggled down into his Lightning McQueen sleeping bag (thanks Uncle Ralph!), between his two 'big cousins,' and was asleep before 9:30. Yes, I know that's a really late night for such a little guy, but geez, he doesn't see his cousins that often, he lives all the way across the country, and I was trying to soothe the cough of a 2-yr-old who was crying for her mommy, so just give me a small break!

In the morning I managed to get all six kids (yes, I tripled the number of kids I normally get out the door for church on Sunday) to church BEFORE mass started -- GO ME!!! Two 11-yr-olds, two 5-yr-olds, a 3-yr-old, and a 2-yr-old. Whew.

The one thing he requested was if we could go to Grammy's so he could "play with my Papa."

::sniff::

My little nephew loves his Papa. Hearing him say that was quite a gift.

But having my little Junior for his first overnight was quite possibly the best gift I could have. Thanks for trusting me Nacho & Carnie. I miss you all -- but especially the beautiful eyes on this little man of yours.

(I call do-overs!)

Laundry Lessons

Apparently I've been washing too much laundry.

Or too little laundry?

Any way you look at it, I haven't been to the bottom of the laundry pile in quite a while.

I was folding some, straight out of the nice, warm, toasty dryer when I picked up a pair of little pink underpants.  I shook them out, laid them on top of the chix' pile, and thought,

"Wow, how on earth does Yell get those on her little fanny?"

I picked them up again and thought,

"Geez, these suckers wouldn't even fit on my leg!"

And then I opened the waistband.

Ah.

2T

Nope, these wouldn't fit on my leg, nor would they fit on Yell's fanny.  Apparently I should investigate the bottom of the laundry pile a little more frequently.

The little pink panties belong to my niece.

Who was last at my house on December 26.  Doh!

::banging my head on my washer::

Beautiful Blogger Award!

I am amazed & touched to be presented with the Beautiful Blogger Award!  I received this award from Joscelyn, an inspiring bi-lingual military mom of twins.  Visit her blog here Mami & The Multiples   I wish I could have kept up my efforts to be tri-lingual with the Chicklets, however, Sapper not understanding a word of the non-English languages proved to be tres difficile!

 To pass on the love, I nominate the following as I find them to be "Beautiful Bloggers" (or just plain funny):

1. http://coxquads.blogspot.com/ The Cox Quads
2. http://kristinsfourkids.blogspot.com/ Kristin's Four Kids
3. http://ourspriggsfamily.blogspot.com/ Spriggs Family
4. http://trippin-lifewithtriplets.blogspot.com/ Trippin' - Life with Triplets
5. http://bonggamom.blogspot.com/ Finding BonggaMom
6. http://manicmommy.blogspot.com/ MaNiC MoMMy
7. http://owenplusthree.blogspot.com/ Owen + 3 apparently I'm not allowed to follow this one anymore!
   
8. http://andtwinsmake5.blogspot.com/ And Twins Make 5!
9. http://mama4real.blogspot.com/ I'm a REAL LIFE mom.
10. http://iamthatmommy.wordpress.com/ Yes, I'm THAT mommy.
11. http://www.mommyneedscoffee.com/ Mommy Needs Coffee
12. http://www.elizabethlyons.com/blog Little Humans Being
13. http://murraycrew.blogspot.com/ 4tunate
14. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cripe Cripe's Sake yes, I know it's not a blog per se, but I check on Danielle's family & pray for them frequently
15. http://www.twomakesfour.com/ Two Makes Four

Congratulations on your nomination and please follow these instructions to nominate someone else:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award and insert a link to their blog.
2. Pass on the award to about 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are great!
3. Contact the other bloggers and let them know they have been chosen for this award.
4. Say 7 things about yourself.


7 Things About Me-Myself-and I

1. Every generation in my family has multiples.  I have a fantastic picture of 4 sets of our fraternal twins taken at my brother's wedding. 

2. I'm the oldest of five kids.  Yep, you heard me.  I'm bossy like that.  (And though my sister & I fought like cats & dogs when we were younger, she's my closest friend now that we're 'grown up'.)

3. I wanted to have two kids before I turned 30.  I didn't realize I would get BOTH the month before my 30th birthday.

4. Since having the chicklets, I have become afraid of heights & deep water.

5. The year my husband was deployed was the toughest of my life.  Yell sleep-walked her way through the year -- resulting in my not sleeping soundly for most of the year.  Fun times.

6. The Muppets/Peanuts - awesome

7. I love Italian food, but the texture of cooked onions can 'do me in'.  Thanks, chicklets, for that oh-so-pleasant pregnancy leftover!