Happy Birthday To Me

Well today is my birthday.. and I have realized one important thing in the past year and a half since the girls were born.. If you are going to have twins, do it in your 20s! lol.. I know that sounds ridiculous..but when MJ and I decided to try for a baby, we were thinking "Oh no problem, we can certainly handle one between the two of us!".. but now we have TWO and we are starting to get worried.. lol

We have both started going to the gym, and losing weight. He's being forced into eating healthier because I'm cooking more at home for the girls and I.. After 5 weeks on Weight Watchers, I'm down 19lbs.. Not terrible.. But also pretty boring.. But I suppose doing it the right way takes longer, and since I'm committed to doing this for a year, I've only got time right??

So as another year of my life has gone by I've realized a few things..
1) I'm a dang good Mom. 
Contrary to what other people THOUGHT I would be.. I'm a pretty great mom. I have never been a 'kid' person per say.. I didn't even know if I would have kids, so I think when I told my close friends I was pregnant.. with twins.. they were scared.. Like for real. I know Brandon worried about my sanity..and the girls sanity as well.. Last year on my birthday they were only about 4 months old, and still not that fun.. but this year, they are awesome, and a TON of fun. I encourage them to learn, build, stay outside, explore and be creative. At 16 months they can't really do all of that.. but every day I try to make it count. Even if its something as small as a trip to Sams, I do it because I know they are going to see someone new, or find a new treasure. They are like little sponges right now, so I love getting them out of the house to be curious. I don't spend as much time as I'd like to with them, but every second I'm with them counts, and we make it count.

I read constantly about the best parenting tips, what kids like to play with, what 'wonder week leap' they are going through, and how to best teach them. I cook.. LOTS of great stuff..and thankfully (Partially thanks to Baby Led Weaning) my girls EAT lots of great stuff. They love everything I make..with garlic, with chia seeds, with flaxseed, with spinach.. Its great, and I love how much they enjoy it.

I don't let other people bother me when they try to convince me that their child is a prodigy.. Thankfully I have a pretty good BS meter, so I just laugh it off and move on... and then point and laugh later when thinking about it. I don't worry about doing what 'everyone else is doing'.. I do what works for us, and if you ever look at my girls, you will see immediately that they are truly full of joy. Thats what for sure lets me know that MJ and I are doing a great job. The girls are full. of. joy. So blessed for that.

2) I'm always going to want to be on the radio.  
I have a great job. I work with great people.. I'm super grateful that I have been able to find a good career after leaving radio.. but just like a singer who always wants to sing.. I'm always going to be an entertainer who always wants to entertain. Its my passion, my love, and what I'm supposed to do in this world.. I'll get back to it in some capacity eventually. But in the meanwhile I'm super thankful for my "row" of folks I work with, and the fact that I have an amazing boss, working for a great company.

3) I'm capable of more than I thought I was. 
Twins are double the blessings. Twins are double the fun. Twins are hard. Now that the girls are walking, they are walking in 2 different directions and MJ and I are always chasing them. I don't even WANT to think about the terrible 2's.. It scares me.. My girls are the best babies in the world, but there are still two of them, and being a parent is CONSTANT. I would have never thought I was capable of getting two nekkid toddlers in a bathtub, or carrying both of them when they want to be picked up.. Or getting them both dressed to the 9's for church every Sunday.. But I am. People constantly ask MJ and I? "How did you do it with two?" Well.. what was the alternative? lol.. Giving one back? Shipping one off? God never gives you more than you can handle and I'm happy and proud to see what we have accomplished in this past year.


4) I have great people around me. 
First, I have an amazing husband. Men that have twins, do NOT get any breaks.. When I' was feeding one baby, he was feeding the other.. and as they have gotten older, its still constant. Londyn Lucille is a daddies girl, and there is rarely a time when he doesn't have a baby on his lap, or I'm asking him to help me with something. I think dads that have ONE baby get off a little easier because the baby is predominantly dependent on the mom for everything.. but with two babies, you gotta have 2 sets of hands. No rest for the Weary. I'm so thankful I married the right man and that God built him just for me.

MJ and I are so thankful for our family and our church. These people have babysat, brought over meals, prayed for us, and eased our minds when we thought we were for sure losing them. Having our parents around us always willing to help and our church praying for us, and strengthening our walk with the Lord has been such a blessing to us. Its also been amazing watching our parents form relationships with our kids that are going to last a lifetime. Watching their eyes get excited when one of their grandparents come over has been such a joy to both of us. There is nothing better than watching someone you Love, Love your kids. And knowing we are raising them in a community of awesome church people who love them, help us take care of them, and build them up makes us really proud as parents. We are also super thankful for Uncle Brandon and Uncle Chant who make the girls laugh every time we see them. We have some great friends too!

5)  Happiness & Positivism is a Choice.. 
Everyday we wake up we can choose to be happy, or choose to be miserable. We can choose to focus on the negative things our spouse does that irritate us, or we can choose to focus on the positive. ITs a choice.. You teach people how to treat you, and you train your brain how to think. So if you don't want to be around negative thoughts, you shouldn't hang out with negative people that constantly drain your energy or bring you down.. Everybody has bad days, and everyone has issues.. but the way you choose to handle them is up to you. I have chosen to give my problems to the Lord, and know that we can work through them together, and good or bad, I know and trust that he is going to take care of me. Life is not all rainbows and unicorns.. But through Trials Comes Grace.  I choose to be positive for my marriage, and my children. I choose to focus on the blessings of my life than everything I don't have, because my blessings are over flowing, and my troubles are pretty meaningless compared to others.

So as another year goes by I can only get excited about the possibilities of greatness. Fun with my girls, Quality time with my Husband, and spending time with those people who are near and dear to my heart. I can't beleive the Holidays are already approaching! This is going to be such a fun season!

We are headed to the farm this weekend to take the girls to the Fall Festival.. Then we will let them visit Pops and Grammy, and we are going to try to take some pics of them with twin baby calves that Papa had on the farm. We are bottle feeding them, so it will be perfect. My life is never perfect, but I could not ask for more.

Emily West is Great!

So because of my background in Radio for 13 years, I have had the opportunities to meet some awesome artists.. It made me think to write this because one of them is back on TV, and I was super excited. Tons of singers, songwriters, musicians came through our conference rooms in hopes of landing a great record deal and climbing to the top of the charts.. Some that I saw were ok.. Some were terrible.. Some were awesome.. and Some were people I couldn't forget. Those were few and far between.. but I'll tell you who they were..

1) James Otto--This guy had a #1 hit with "Just got Started Loving you" (SEE HERE) and I love him. I still do. I'm hoping he gets another shot at it, because he's one of the most talented people I know. Soulful voice that is so original. He lost his record deal a few years ago, but I've kept up with him on Twitter and Facebook and I think he's working on releasing some new music soon. He is also an excellent song writer.. he co wrote "In Color" For Jamey Johnson.. I. Love. James. Otto.

2) Randy Houser--I'm so proud of this guy, as I think he has FINALLY made it! He had a pretty big hit with "Boots On" but has had even more success with his sophomore Album that includes "Good night Kiss" and "Running out of Moonlight" and now he has a new song called "Like a Cowboy".. This guy was awesome, and hilarious.. and he giggled which made me giggle.. Super thick country drawl, super cute, and a voice that at times sounded like Ronnie Dunn.. Love him. (See him HERE)

3) Zac Brown Band--Now these guys were kinda kooky when they came through.. The first thing they did was ask me where a whole foods was located (we did not have one at that point) So I tought they were a bunch of Hippies.. But when they started to play I knew they were something special.. Like 6 months later "Chicken Fried" comes out and the rest is history.. (see here).. We also saw them a few months later after they had blown up, and Zac actually cooked for us back stage at the Zoo, and made pork chops.. so he went up a notch in my book after that..

4) Easton Corbin--When this guy came in my first thought was "Man this guy sounds just like George Strait" and he's pretty much made a career on that! He's still got that twang and picks really good songs. He was super nice, and talented.. See him HERE Disregard that I'm in a cup costume.. It was Halloween..

5) Justin Moore--At the time when I first met Justin he had barely even signed his record deal. He sang a BUNCH of songs. I remember thinking "Is this accent real?"..(More here)  The other thing I remember is him is he is like 5'5 and has a song called "I can kick your ass".. I remember thinking Can you Justin? Can you? But.. I think he probably could. He's a wiry guy.. and those kind can sneak up on ya and smack you around. I knew a hockey player in Corpus that was the same way.. smallest guy on the ice, yet made more people bleed than most.. lol See him HERE:

6) Emily West--Some of you may or may not know her.. but right now she is a top 6 finalist on America's Got Talent. I was so freakin excited to see her on there.. She was awesome in person.. She does impersonations that are hilarious! (SEE HERE) Great sense of humor, and such a beautiful voice. I got her to try Calf-fries for the first time at Toby Keiths! I saw a lot of cute blondes come through the studio, but I can tell you, NONE of them  had the talent that she has. She had a record deal too, and put out some singles "Rocks in your Shoes" "My Kind of Happy" and then she did a song called "Blue Sky" with Keith Urban singing Backup.. I thought for sure she would be a huge star.. but then she lost her record deal and I never heard much about her other than what I would see on Facebook.. Then I saw her on America's Got Talent and I was so excited! I hope she wins the whole thing.. She's talented enough to do it, and such a great person. At the least, I hope she gets a record deal out of the thing! Here she is singing "Blue Sky".. 

There were others that I loved too.. Lance Miller is amazing, and I still talk to that guy. He's so great. He's actually having quite a bit of success as a song writer for Tim McGraw's record label. He co-wrote a song from Jarod Neiman that was a big hit..."I Can drink to that all night".. so I'm super proud of him.. Gloriana came through the studio, David Nail, Love & Theft, and a few others.. but those are the ones I remember thinking "Yup.. thats some good stuff"..

So Look for Emily next week on America's Got talent.. and vote for her.. She's so great, and I am excited that she got this 2nd chance! I linked her singing "Nights in White Satin".. so good.. So good.. You can watch all her previous performances from that link.. I hope she wins!

Here comes the Sun..

(This is where she is.. every morning at the farm, checking the cows)

We had a great weekend at the farm last weekend. Crosslee becomes more obsessed with cows every time we go out there. Its almost bizarre.. She got to pet a baby calf this weekend and was pretty fired up about that.. but she doesn't  understand  why ALL the cows don't want to be by her ALL the time. 

Their Papa (Steve) also rigged up their wagon to the back of the 4 Wheeler so he can pull them around all over the farm. Londyn Lucille especially likes this. She loves being toted around and looking at all the farm stuff. She likes to walk, but would rather be pulled in her wagon. They have so much fun when we go out there.. Hot-tubbing is still one of their favorite things to do as well. Watching them for special relationships with their grandparents is pretty awesome. 

This should be a fun weekend. Tomorrow night GT & Nana are coming over to watch the girls while MJ and I run around. The girls will have lots of new things to show them. Cross is still carrying around her owl. She is obsessed with him. Now she has to take him in the stroller, and she is usually walking with him. He made the rounds at the farm. He's starting to look pretty bad.. but he's a Scentsy Owl that is discontinued, so I don't know that we will be able to swap him out with a newer model! Isn't that the way it always goes? You find something you love.. only to find out its discontinued and you can't get another.. dang. 

So my birthday is coming up.. and just when I thought I couldn't get any lamer.. I am.. Mom asked if I wanted to come out there.. So Maybe we will do that.. Who knows. You know what I want? And this is how you know how TRULY lame I am.. A Vacuum.. I know, I know.. laugh.. but I'm so sick of crappy Vacuum's! We had a dyson, but it died, so we took it to be repaired.. It worked for about 3 months and now is back to sucking.. or shall I say NOT sucking..Now we have some sort of Hoover that is also crap.  At this point.. MJ and I just look for things that make life easier.. with 3 dogs and 2 kids.. a Good Vacuum is one of those things. Sad. I know..  My birthday used to be about awesome fun limo bashes with clubs, my friends, and drinking.. now I'm asking for a vacuum. My how times have changed.. #lamesauce

Have you guys been watching "The Strain" on FX? Its a new series.. Its pretty good.. but scary.. because the premise is some moron letting a 'strain' of something go on an airplane and bring a devil disease into America.. Not cool.. Especially when you read about the recent Ebola outbreaks.. But.. the point is the show is really good, and all the guys and I at work like talking about it on Tuesday mornings.. The Sad thing is.. Something like that could probably happen.. because we are spoiled and don't like to wait on things.. so if someone said "Well you can wait an additional hour to get scanned at the airport, or possibly get Ebola" some people would actually choose Ebola..

I think I have found the girls Halloween costumes.. I'm pretty excited about them. Not for sure on LL's yet, so I'll wait to reveal, but they are going to be pretty tremendous. I love Halloween... We may dress up at work this year, the guys and I as Dead Presidents on Vacation.. I told them I could probably pull of Lincoln.. We'll see.

Our Small group at church started back up this week.. We dropped the girls off at the nursery crying.. But when we went back to get them they were both playing and happy. Separation anxiety is not cool.. I've read it gets better around 18 months. Cross is the worst about it with me. LL usually goes along because she is easy going.. but Cross gets mad and cries. I know the nursery people are great though and usually get them out of it pretty quickly.

So I'm going to have to have another baby sale soon.. The stuff is getting out of hand. Gotta make room for the Winter stuff.. I'll post it on Facebook when I'm going to get ready to do it.. Its such a hassle, but it must be done.

Oh, and here's this.. So Mom goes to the Dr last week and he tells her that you are supposed to have a lot of Vitamin D.. Meaning you need to be outside for 10-20 minutes each day from 10am to 4pm.. It only counts during those hours, so if you are saying "Oh thats great.. I get outside every evening to do yard work".. No.. No sir, that does NOT count.. Its only from 10-4 each day.. He also told her that you are way more likely to get a terrible cancer from not having enough vitamin D than getting skin cancer from being out there too much.. So keep all these things in mind. I'm not saying go out and burn off your flesh, but probably a good idea to catch a few rays from those hours each day.. Which actually does make sense because when the girls were little we had to give them Vitamin D drops.. Here's an article on it.. GET MORE SUN 

                            As you can see, Cross is getting in her sun by strolling around the farm..

                                                     LL getting her sun in Gigi's plant land..

Everything else is good in our world.. The girls are so much fun right now. They do new things every day that make us laugh. When I picked up Cross from the Nursery the other night the lady said "She is so funny!".. Yup she sure is.. We could not ask for more. #blessed