Down 10!

Well it's been another month....and I'm sitting in the waiting room at Dr Keeles office... And the numbers are in- I lost 10 lbs! Mom is in now so we will have to wait for results...

Anyone else sooo happy it is finally the weekend. Aghh what a week and looking at October it's not going to get any better- I just looked on my calendar and I have 4 days in the ENTIRE month that are not full with something-

Kelly & Bens wedding is right around the corner and it seems like just yesterday they got engaged... I can not wait to see this CrAzY plan of a wedding in the back yard... Come together- it isn't very often we get all our family and friends together and have the opportunity to meet so many new ppl that are so special to kel and ben.

The babies are doing great- had their 6 month check up and they are growing like crazy!!
Jaxon is 16lbs 14oz - 25 3/4 inches long
Layla is 18lbs 13oz - 25 inches long

I can't believe how big they have gotten... Every day they pick up more things, make cute faces and learn new sounds... Before I know it they will be in school :(

Well the weather looks to be wonderful for the weekend! We have a vb tournament tomorrow but hopefully we take home a trophy and have the rest of the evening to enjoy the fall weather!!

Weekend Recap

Have you ever felt you had such a good weekend - althought it would be great to have a "weekend" from your "weekend"  Well Im at that stage in the game right now!!

We had a great weekend -

*Friday Night Homecoming football game,

*Saturday morning was a lazy day just me and J&L while Stephen was on a Poker Run. 

I took the kids over to moms, so I could do some running before we left town.  Dad had kept a picture of him holding me when they were building their house 25+ years ago...he found the same coat and grabbed Layla and headed out for the power box...Check out the "re-creation" of the picture...the Neighborhood sure has changed from the original!

*Saturday evening we headed to StL for the night - We met Kris and Nate in Coulterville,  we dropped ALL FOUR kids off at Gma Patti & Papa Marks for the evening - they were having a "All Grandkid Slumber Party"  and were headed to the City. 

We had concert tix for Ed Kowakczyk - the former front man for the band LIVE - he broke out of the group and is going solo...If you ever get a chance to go to a concert at Lumiere - DO IT! It is such a "up close and personal" atmosphere.  We were in the middle of the room and still only about 20 feet from the stage!  We had a great time!  Afterwards we headed down to see if anything was happening on the Landing, hit up the Big Bang for a bit and headed back to the hotel -

All in all was a great night - and did I mention I got a FULL NIGHTS SLEEP - added bonus!!

Sunday we woke up, checked out of the Chase Park Plaza and headed home - We hadn't ate Casa Brunch in forever so we stopped in for Brunch. 

We got home, visited with the fam for a bit and headed to Sparta - Jaxon & Layla had a good time at their slumber party but were excited to be home!  We had supper, baths and caught up on snuggle time ;)  Bedtime came early which made for a happy - rested momma!  Well time to start the day!

Here are some pictures from the Miles'/Scott Kid Slumber Party...(Note: Callie is not in any pictures - not that she is loved any less...its just the camera was not fast enough to catch her in action any picture they got of her was simply a blurrrrrr)

Enjoy the day -

Busy, busy, busy

Ok, Ok, Ok - I'm at the point that Im starting to make excuses why I havn't blogged lately...Well I'd like to say I've been so crazy busy I havn't had a second to blog - which is some what true but still no reason to not write out a few things that has been happening.  I promise I will try to do better!!


This week our volleyball team has been playing in the Trico Tournament...Tuesday night we were scheduled to play at 9pm...(didn't start until 945 aghhhhh) Yea you read that correct...9PM umm excuse me but that is bedtime for J&L and showertime/catch up on DVR/ and eventually bed time for Momma - Well the game didn't go very well...went 3 and I was pulling in the driveway about 11 YUCK!


Last night was much better - We played at 5 & 6...WON both games and most importantly my dad won his 500th career volleyball coaching victory during the first game!!


To top that all off mom took J&L to the game so they could watch the action - We play again tonight late...PTL its almost Friday!  This week has taken forever!


Monday of this week we took Jaxon & Layla to LC Photography for their 6 month pictures - WAIT...WHAT?? 6 months already where did time go? Seems like just yesterday we were there getting newborn pictures.  Makes this girl sad to know they are growing so quickly!  But the sneak peek are so good!
Well this one isn't  - but it cracks me up! and definatly explains what happens at my house from time to time!

Check the rest of them out!

I am so happy with them!! Can't wait to see the rest!
Well enjoy the cooler weather - Hope everyone has a good Thursday the weekend is right around the corner!

Jaxon and Layla's Half Birthday!

The Babies are 6 months old today - It is crazy how time has flown by...As I sit here and think about the last 6 Crazy months I have mixed emotions...Some sad because my little bitty 6lb4oz & 5lb7oz. babies are getting bigger by the second...but Im also so excited to see them learn and do more things...I do believe crawling is on the horizon! 

 Everyone says "Oh my you have twins - that must be so hard"..."Glad its you not me" or "Wow you've got your hands full!"....I think the best yet was last weekend we were trying out our new side-by-side double stroller at the mall - as we walked in the mall a man, woman, and their baby passed us walking to their car.  Without speaking to us the man looked at us, the stroller and then his wife and made a cutting motion at his neck and said loud enough for us to hear ..."THANK GOD THAT DIDN"T HAPPEN TO US - ONE IS ENOUGH!"

Stephen and I laughed a bit and carried on...but thinking back on that guys comment...I thank God everyday it DID happen to us.  Sure being new parents to one kid is rough..and maybe having 2 at once can be difficult, but I wouldn't change a thing...Even the past few nights when they BOTH are teething, BOTH have colds, and BOTH are up every few hours.  All i need in the morning is a smile from both of them and I'm set for the day -

As far as things being hard - I think the hardest part of having twins would be treating them separately.  Sure we feed them sometimes on separate schedules, change them when each need to be changed, but It is sooo hard for me to not call them "The Twins" or even when I go somewhere and people ask "How are those babies"  My response is "THEY ARE GROWING"...........Nothing to personal and I hate that - I often feel they get somewhat the short end of the stick, compared to a single baby...You ask a mom of one newborn she will most likely rattle off latest dr. stats, latest growth developments and anything else they can throw at you in about a 1 min. time frame...With J&L I throw them in the same category simply because people generally do not have 5 min. for me to dig out of my purse their growth developments, percentiles, weight height and so on and so forth....

I am going to try better I promise!!

We go on 9/26 for their 6 month Dr. Visit so I will rattle their stats with the best of them!

Everyone that I talked to before I had J&L told me they will be 1 before you know it...I didn't think that was possible and definitely thought I would be so ready for them to grow up - WRONG!  There is something I love about holding them at night knowing they are falling asleep, watching them interact with each other, learning new things, and especially finding their voice - I left Jaxon this afternoon after lunch and he was talking gibberish to a toy phone Jo had bought him for his baptism.  I really think Jax thought he was on speaker phone.  Hahahaha

Everyday that passes is a day closer to them becoming older, (because I'm a planner) I've always picked out the date and location for their 1st Bday party.   Thinking about that day makes me excited to learn how they will act, what they will say and how their personalities will develop by March 15 - Dont worry Im working on a theme ;)

Well before I get to sappy about Jaxon & Layla growing up - I better get going - the weather is Beautiful outside I'm headed out to enjoy it!

Layla was LOVING her sweet potatoes and corn last night - So much she couldn't keep her hands from dipping into the container...Crazy girl!!

How could someone not fall in love with this face!  I had just told him Daddy was on his way home and he squealed out loud and made this face! So sweet!!

Where were you?

That is the question asked millions of times around the US yesterday - 10 Years ago that Tuesday morning...Thinking about it still gives me chills...I have always heard older people say they remember where they were when they heard about JFK, The Challenger and different historical events but I couldn't ever relate -

I was hooked on the TV the last 48 hours watching and listening to all the documentaries being played on TV.  One even had phone conversations between family members who were stuck in the towers and KNEW they weren't going to make it.  That got me - hearing a 22 year old man, on his first day of work tell his fiance he loved her forever but will never see her again.  Aghhh  Another man called his 9month pregnant wife and told her he loved her and their unborn baby more then words could express, and that he would see them both in Heaven.

Brings back the memory of where I was - Driving down the interstate from Mt. Vernon to Rend Lake.  It was my freshman year of college and I was headed to my Intro to Lit class that Tuesday morning.  I heard on the radio the initial report that a small plane got off track and crashed into the World Trade Center.....a few minutes later...another -

I parked my car only know that information and went into the computer lab where my class was meeting...The teacher had just heard the news and jokingly said it must be the devil playing tricks on us all....In some respects he was right - unknowingly he was describing the terrorist attacks to the T.  We didn't have a TV in the lab but spent the entire 2 hour class discussing the impact this would have on America.  After class myself and a few fellow VB players went into the Locker Room and watched the scene on the streets of downtown NYC.  I still to this day feel numb when I think of us watching over and over again the first tower crumble.  And to see those poor people jumping out of the building - I can't imagine thinking jumping from the 98th floor of a burning building would be my only option.

So as yesterday came and went I couldn't help but give my husband  - a police officer an extra hug, give my two babies a little more snuggle time because for all those people that lost there lives that day, they went to work as if it were going to be just another Tuesday.  You never truly know what life will bring, something so tragic forces me to realize the important things in life!

Well this has been a week - Is it just me or does "shortened" weeks seem WAYYYY longer then a regular 5 day week? I swear it seems like weeks ago that Kelly & Ben were home.  This week was FULL and I felt last night like I hadn't spent a single second at home aside from sleeping.  Well I can not complain too terribly long because it is Friday - and the weekend is right around the corner.  As for sleeping I plan to catch up on as much ZZZZzzzzz's as possible, my little darlings decided last night around 4am that it was time to get up and party!  They have not yet learned that is a NoNo on a school night!

Tomorrow is the big TWIN SALE day - a mothers of multiples club in Belleville holds a fall and a spring twin sale.  Last year I went in the fall  - thinking I was pregnant with 1 baby....Joke was on me -  it was only 2 short weeks later that I found out I should have bought 2 of EVERYTHING!

I sorted through all J&L's clothes last weekend dividing sizes, changing out their 0-3 and sorted, washed, and hung up 3-6 and some 6-9 fall clothes! I came to the conclusion Layla doesn't not need any more new clothes until the girl is 2 but Jaxon poor thing has a single tote filled about 3/4 of the way with fall clothes.  Sooo my mission on Saturday bright and early is to get fall/winter clothes for Jax, **(Fingers crossed)** I'd like to get a double side-by-side jogging stroller, and some other odds and ends we need...3-6, 6-9, 9-12 sleepers like no other!

Well I have some stuff to get finished before work - so I better get to going!

Have a great weekend - Enjoy the cooler temperatures and a little rain ;( but the cool temps will be a thing of the past next week.  They are calling for mid 90's Monday and Tuesday ahhhhhhhhh I have enjoyed the 60's-70's!

wow - What a weekend!!

So many things going on so little time - This weekend was action packed for the Gerlach/Miles/Hovland clan...Kelly & Ben came to town Thursday evening to spend the weekend.  With the wedding around the corner they went and made it official with the purchase of their marriage license Friday.  After school & practice the entire clan (minus Stephen who was working)  headed up to the SHS football game.  For a little bit it was baby central as we ran into Meghan English and her cutie Jorga and we also bumped into and shared stories with The Soderlund Twins - Molly & Tommy.  They were born 15 days after J&L.

Saturday was amazing - we had NOTHING to do and loved every min. of it!  We spent most of the day at   mom and dads - We did a little bit of wedding planning with Kelly and a whole lot of nothing else!!

Sunday was the BIG DAY - J&L's baptism

We were so amazed by the amount of love showered on the babies, and are so blessed to have such great family and friends.  I couldn't not have asked for more from the babies they were PERFECT during church.  We used that big event as a test run for their wedding clothes! and they looked soooo Cute!

After church service and dinner we had for our family we took the babies home for a much needed nap!

Kelly is not your typical bride -- she is somewhat a non traditional bride.  She is not a fan of the concept of a big bridal shower - so (somewhat against her wishes) we had a small family shower last night - we all got her a few items off their registry and she is going to attempt to take some of the gifts home with them...Nothing like 2 adults, 2 dogs, and a few boxes of their wedding china all packed in their Mini-Cooper.

J&L had a big day and were WORN out -PTL they slept most of the night .  J was up for a bottle at 545 and L was up at 645!!  That made for one happy Momma!

When this morning rolled by we headed over to Gma J's.  Stephen wanted to put the final touches on the "reception pavilion"  - We have spent the rest of the day playing with the babies.  I used the opportunity (having SEVERAL babysitters) to sort through all the Fall baby clothes I have...

The TWIN sale at SWIC is next week and I needed to figure out what I need!

Last year after Halloween I found 2 of the cutest halloween costumes at Gliks - HALF OFF  - SCORE!!

 I hadn't found out the gender of the twins yet so I bought two matching/non gender specific DUCK Outfits! Here is a sneak peek at J&L in their halloween costumes! I can't wait ~

How about this weather - I could get used to this!! Love J&L in pants and hoodies - 

Have a good week everyone!

warning - if you like Tequilas (and would like to continue eating there) Dont Read!

I have been on a pretty strict diet the past month and a half - no real cheating, no going out to eat... nothing!!  Last night we had a volleyball game and decided afterwards we would head up to Tequilas in Sparta for supper.  My first real cheat - Call it Karma from the diet gods, or whatever you want but I ordered a  Chicken Taco Salad...Not very good to start with but as I pushed my 1/2 eaten plate away I notice something...not lettuce, not chicken, not sour cream...yep right there plain as day a cooked cockroach with a little guacamole on the side! yummmmmy!  I'm telling you it was great!
Sooo Robo-Cop Husband that I have kicked into action...got the manager - Who said flat out "We pay $65.00 a month to get the kitchen sprayed for bugs, get inspected once a month" and the best part was "IT's NOT MY FAULT!"
wait ...what............
So I guess It was my fault I didn't order my taco salad WITHOUT beans and BUGS!

So needless to say that will probally be our last dining experience at Sparta Tequila's for a long while if not Ever!!

But on to better more appetizing things!  kelly and ben made it home last night - Kelly and Mom came over this morning before I headed off to work so kel could get a snug with J&L! 

Just thought this would put a smile on everyones face!!

Good Morning Everyone!!

Nothing to exciting has been going on with the Miles' clan - Last night after VB practice myself, J&L stuck to our normal routine-

It is great to go pick up the babies at Gma J's and have supper ready!  I hit the jackpot with this whole retirement thing!  Babysitter who is a great cook as well SCORE!  Our normal after school/practice schedule looks a lot like this.......

-Supper (for the grown-ups)

-Supper for J&L

*They are doing soooo well with their veggies and fruits - They will go to town on anything that ISN"T Green Lets just say my little drama queen made it know she is not a fan...Her skit included "Pretending to choke on the peas...even down to making her eyes water...When I stood up to pick her up she opened her eyes...smiled and spit the mouthful out on the highchair tray - she all but said GOTCHA!"

Gheeesh girl it is too early to start those tricks -
NOTE: She wasn't ever choking just playing the game!

After supper we take a walk through town - Last night was great... Stephen was off so he joined us.  It is always nice to have an extra hand or two to help out!

We did baths and night time bottles ...and POOF I ended up with TWO sleeeeeepy babies around 930!  perfect - they went to sleep and Stephen and I could catch up on The Challenge (Real World) Reunion!  There is nothing like mindless MTV to end the night ;)

All in all it was an uneventful evening and I LOVE it that way!!

We have 2 vb games this evening and Stephen got called in to work this afternoon Sooo looks like Gma J will be back in action again today!! PTL for that woman (And Papa too!)

We are patiently waiting the arrival of Aunt Kelly & Uncle Ben - they are coming home this weekend for J&L's Baptism Sunday!  I cant wait for them to see how much Jax & Layla have grown and changed! 

Well better get going - not looking forward to this HEAT...I mean really 100 degrees at noon PLEASE let this be the last week of summer temps...Im ready for 70's!