Printables

So I've seen these printables all over blogs/pinterest for awhile now, but have been too lazy to print any. I decided our house needed a little Thanksgiving flare, and I plan on printing a few Christmas ones, as well. It's a cheap, easy way to add some Holiday spirit to the home. 

{Found HERE}

There's so many great subway art printables out there.

{Found HERE}

Don't worry, I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving to leave this one out. 

{Found HERE, look on sidebar for download}

Gobble Gobble. :)

xoxo

Bacon and Eggs

Well, our Halloween this year was quite a bit different than Halloween last year. While I've always been a big fan of this holiday, it will now always have a new meaning to me in that it was the day we officially brought our sweet girls home from the hospital after 8 days of them being in the NICU. As you can imagine, I was less concerned about costumes and trick or treaters last year and more concerned with our teeny, tiny babies. But not this year! We had a crazy two weeks of birthday celebrations and Halloween, and this was just a small preview of what a fun time of year this will always be for us. Since my girls loathe things being attached to their heads, that pretty much ruled out about 90% of costumes (I'm hoping this might somehow change next year). I also felt a strong need to take advantage of twins and have them be something "Twinsy." I have a feeling I will continue to do this until the girls object. So, I thought I'd get crafty and do something my mom never did for us: make their costumes. Before you go thinking I'm Martha Stewart, their costumes cost about $10 and required scissors and fabric glue to make. I did sew on the egg yolk by hand after stuffing a kleenex in the middle to make it "poofy" (ok, maybe I felt slighty Martha Stewart-ish). I was a little afraid they might end up looking like the kids whose parents couldn't afford real costumes, but I think they ended up looking pretty darn cute. And hopefully someday they will look back at these pictures, roll their eyes, and say "Gah, mom, I can't believe you dressed us up as bacon and eggs. How dorky." But by then they will have probably realized their mom is a huge fan of all things dorky. :)

Fun Halloween play group with our friends!

We love Halloween!

Oh, I see Mom put a stupid bow on your head, too.

Doing a little trick or treating around the neighborhood

First birthday cake, now candy. Yessss!

Look, mom! Someone gave us unsanitary cheese puffs in a sack!

Daddy and his breakfast. 

Mommy and her breakfast. 

All this candy for us?!

My little skellies 

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! 

xoxo

Adios, bottles

It's a magical day here in the Nevels' house. Today we say hello to you (cute sippy cup holder with sippy cups)...

And goodbye to you (bottles and bottle paraphernalia)...

Aside from the fact that I now have less countertop clutter, more open dishwasher space, and more money in the bank account (we officially said goodbye to astronomical formula expenses about a month ago), I am so proud of my girls for stepping up to the world of big girls and strictly using the sippy cup! Other than bringing two newborns home from the hospital and making sure we kept them alive, switching the girls first from formula to whole milk, then bottle to sippy cups has been the single most daunting task as a parent. There's only about a million different ways to do it, and thankfully we finally figured out a plan that worked for us (and successfully taught the girls that sippy cups were so much cooler than bottles). While I realize I should have a teary mom moment and mourn the fact that this is yet another step into my babies becoming big girls, and I will so very much miss watching them taking their bottles and how sweet their little mouths looked while taking one (ok, I'm getting a little misty), it's also so freeing knowing I can just throw some milk in the sippy cups and head out the door. And geez they are so much easier to clean. 

In addition to now feeling like super mom (I know, this feat is relatively microscopic in the realm of parenting victories. Can you imagine how great I'll feel if my girls make it through high school without getting into hard drugs?), it's been a great reminder that although, as parents, we so desperately want all the answers on how to do everything and fix everything and snap our fingers to get us through the times of frustration, confusion, and inadequacy (or is that just me?), but as everything else goes in life, we would also never feel that great sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing you did something great as a parent. If I've learned anything as a mom, it's knowing that no matter how tough the situation, I love them too much to not find the right answer. Let's only hope I carry this nugget of wisdom into their adolescent years when I have to somehow teach them much bigger lessons that involve hormones, peer pressure, and the loser scum bag teenage boys I already loathe. :)

So please feel free to raise your glass (or sippy cup) in my honor this evening. And pray for the next double parenting feat I have to take on!

xoxo

The 8

Our little CJ has her blankie on her head, and our sweet Sophie has...the 8. It's become quite the joke around our house, but Sophie has an inseparable bond with the purple, rubber bath toy #8. Not the 9, or the B, or J or any other letter or number. Just the 8. She will choose it out of any other toy nearly 9 times out of 10 while in the bath, and has even been known to crawl into the bathroom in the middle of the day to search for her beloved 8. While it baffles and cracks Kyle and I up, we have speculated all sorts of reasons as to why she is SO biased towards this one specific number/letter. A special meaning in a past life? Trying to tell us early on what number she prefers to have on her volleyball jersey? How many brothers and sisters she wants (yikes!)? Early child genius that shows an affinity for math? Whatever the cause of her special love for this number, it keeps us all incredibly entertained and wondering why on earth she has chosen this specific digit as the object of her obsession.

Oh how I love my little, feisty red head. :)

Xoxo

We Have a Walker...

That's right, my oldest daughter who has led the way in all other developmental milestones (rolling over, crawling, getting a tooth), is now our first official walker! I think it's funny/ironic/cute that she's done everything first given she is technically the first born. While I think we are a few weeks away from walking being her main mode of transportation, I have to admire her for constantly getting up on her feet and practicing. Sophie is taking a few steps of her own here and there, but still gaining the bravery to take more than a few. She's a pro at holding your fingers and walking all around the house, though! Lord, am I ready to have two walkers? Ready or not, here it comes. :)

xoxo

A Day at the Park

This past Saturday, the Nevels family had a fun little afternoon at Mitch park, swinging, sliding, walking, and enjoying the crisp fall weather. Gosh I wish this time of year never had to end!

CJ looking like such a big girl standing

Always sharing a swing. :)

Why does that kid get a swing all to himself?

Yay! My very own swing! 

Daddy and Soph on the slide

A firetruck for two :)

Mommy and CJ

Loving the pretty leaves

Happy fall!

xoxo

Chilly Weather Food

Well it only took until nearly November for Oklahoma to finally reach truly fall temperatures. Yahoo! With the chilly forecast for this next week, I'm excited to whip up this new stew recipe in the CP while wearing warm slippers and a fleece. I'm a little embarassed to admit that I've never made a stew before. I think I've made just about everything else in the crockpot but stew. I think it's because like most little kids, I was never a fan of eating meat mixed with broth and vegetables. But now that I'm a mature adult, I think I'm ready to truly savor its deliciousness. My mom would be proud (just don't tell her I'm not using her stew recipe). ;)

Recipe found here.

P.S. It calls for a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Mmmm.....

xoxo