Haven't blogged in awhile... to be honest my whole internet surfing activity in general has decreased... trying to spend more time amongst the non-virtual aspects of life I guess. :)

So, fall is coming.

My favorite season! Always lulls me into a contemplative state of sorts for some reason. Maybe it's all the pretty colors.

:-)

The concept of "appreciation" has been circling my mind lately. I think that, in my life, I'm often not really appreciative of what I have at any given moment, but rather I dwell on what I feel I lack.

I think that's a pretty sad way to be. So, in the spirit of the changing colors of the leaves, I'd like to change this about myself.

It's a work in progress. But right now I deeply appreciate the abiltity to share this with whoever happens to stumble here.

Have a great day!

Happy 4th of July!!

May you eat lots of delicious barbequed foods, drink buckets of beer and be dazzled by beautiful colorful explosions of lights in the sky.

:)

My twins are 9 today... ok, well technically today and tomorrow as they're 15 minutes apart but born just on either side of midnight... but, I suppose it's accurate enough to say, they're 9 today! We celebrated by having 11 9 year olds run around our tiny apartment for 4 hours yesterday. Surprisingly the place is still standing. And the newly filled in holes in the walls are still covered. Will wonders never cease? :)

And I'm just amazed at how fast the time has gone (and is going) by.

Time is weird. It's flow feels so erratic and subjective. I think, having kids, watching them grow, puts a whole different perspective on it.

And in other news, I finished my first term of massage school...one step closer to my dream career... So, yay.

No shameless plug intended (of course) but my birthday's coming up, and my husband got me the best present ever! A ride in a hot air balloon. Oh my goodness! It was so magical! I don't even know what to say about it. It was absolutely amazing. The whole thing was like a dream. He took me to a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire (this, I thought was my present, which, trust me, would have been enough!) My sister offered to watch the kids, and I thought to myself, wow a whole night's sleep, what could be better than that?... To my (at the time) dismay, he told me we'd have to wake up very early for a big surprise. I was none to happy. I said, "unless you're taking me to the moon, I'd rather sleep." Little did I know what he had in mind... So reluctantly I woke up at 4:00 in the morning to go on this mysterious adventure...

But it was so worth it! I've always dreamt of being in a hot air balloon! It always seemed like one of those fanciful things that are nice to day dream about, but you know in the back of your mind will never actually happen.

But it did!

I saw the sun rise from 4,200 feet in the air! And we landed in some guys front yard. It was all just so incredible.

If I ever learn how, I'll post pictures.

Or, there are holes in the walls...

So, we're in the midst (good word) of a huge plumbing project which means that we have very large gaping holes in all of the walls and ceilings of our apartment. I'm finding this extremely disconcerting. I know the walls aren't really *solid* but I like to pretend they are. Now that everything is all exposed and I have flakes of plaster everywhere...I know better.

Hmmmm... I guess delusions are nice sometimes.

Ok, so we did it. We got a cat! For real this time, not just babysitting someone elses. :-)

She's a big (I mean big, You pick her up and automatically make that "ooof" sound) old (6) sweetheart! The first day the baby chased her all around the apartment, tugged at her whiskers and stepped on her tail. She hid for the next 3 days. She's just begun (day 4) to come out of hiding now and then.

I really really love adding a cat to our family dynamic!

I would have posted the title in colors if only I knew how...

We're in the process of painting our kitchen a bright sunny yellow. (And by we, I mean my husband and my twins) The baby and I are "supervising" :-)

It's looking great. Very cheerful!

So, our room (me, hubby and baby) is teal, the twins room is purple, the kitchen is yellow.... Now I need to think of a color for the living room.

I suggested painting the celieng sky blue, with a bright yellow sun in the middle, and a big rainbow on the walls, but my husband didn't go for it.

So...I'm thinking maybe a nice bright orange...

Anyway, I love colors.

Just wanted to share. :-)

Well, he's back!

And the ship stayed, more or less, afloat. Thanks for all the navigation help all. :-) My nautical friends. Ok... enough with the boat metaphors?

never.

But now I really want a sailboat!

A few minor casualties...

The Wii stopped working (husband fixed it)

The diaper genie broke (if you're not familiar with these things, you're better off. ;-))

A cabinet door fell off it's hinges

The garbage disposal isn't working

But all in all, things went pretty well.

I think he's happy to be with us, but sad to not be in the land down under anymore. He really fell in love with the Aussie ways. :-)

Ok, my husband is on his way to Australia....

This will be the first time, really since I've known him, that we'll be apart for so long... I know it's only 2 weeks...but he has a very heavy hand in keeping this ship running (somewhat) ship shape... so... here's hoping we don't get lost at sea without our co-captain.

:-)

But hey, I have all of you lovely people who occasionally glance at my meandering blatherings here, so what am I worried about.

You all can steer a vessel such as this one, can't you?

;-)

So we recently got a cat! Well, not really... we're cat-sitting for my brother for a month while he's home from school...

I cannot tell you how much fun it is to have a cat and a baby. But I'm going to try. :-)

It's great!!

Some of their favorite activities:

-the baby crawls around chasing the cat, who darts away as soon as the baby gets within touching distance.

-the cat jumps in the play pen with the baby, then quickly jumps back out again

-the baby drops cherios from her highchair, which the cat bats around the floorthen chases after them.

The baby is fascinated with the cat. The cat is wary of the baby... But today we made great strides. The cat allowed the baby to pat her for a full two seconds while she sat in my lap.

I'm not looking forward to giving this cat back in a month!