Wizard of Oz time!

Man, can you guys believe the girls are almost 5!?! I cannot.. This year they decided they wanted a Wizard of Oz party, and you know I can't turn down a good theme, so we are now in full on party planning mode.. although, in fairness.. I do most of this about 6 months before the party actually gets here!

Mom is coming up to get the girls on Thursday and Friday so we can decorate accordingly.. I'll post pictures of all the magic after the party.. In the meanwhile it was NOT a great weekend at our house.. Jordan got sick at the gun-range on Saturday morning and almost passed out. I wasn't feeling 100% and then Londyn got sick Saturday night.. I had had my limit of vomit and mess by Sunday so I went out to get some soup for everyone.. only to have it spill all over my car.. and it was roasted red pepper.. so almost like MORE vomit.. Sigh..



Here's some things we talked about on the air this week!

How to get rid of flies:--How to get rid of flies with a banana



Fool that tries to take a selfie with an Alligator... DUMMY



Bizarre Facts of the day:

Michael Buffer the “Let’s get ready to rumble” guy had the phrase trademarked and as of 2009 it has generated $400 million dollars in revenue.

Silly string has military usage in the detection of tripwires. The string would settle onto the ground in areas without tripwires, but catch on to any that is present. The silly string reveals the wire, but it will not set it off due to its light weight.

Fall is in the Air! Can you feel it!

Well here we are.. Fall is almost here.. State Fair is in town, and I can practically smell My Favorite "Leaves" candle burning in my house! The girls are starting to get excited about getting "The Giant" and the "Bloody Clown" out because Halloween is just around the corner. They have decided on being a Skeleton (Londyn) and Queen Elsa (Crosslee) and yes.. I'm over Elsa.. but she's strong-minded on Being Elsa, and You are only little once.. However, I will tell you they both have about 15 Halloween costumes they could choose from at this point! Halloween is my favorite, so I'm looking forward to that too!

This year has literally flown by.. You know what they say "They Days are long, the Years are short" and I do find myself thinking that.. I mean I can't believe the girls are 4 and in Pre-K! They are doing pretty good.. Cross has really struggled with the amount of change that has been going on.. She is going to be a little girl that does not love Change.. Londyn on the other hand, loves everything all the time. She's truly fine with whatever situation you put her in.. so I'm 50/50.. Cross has had a hard time with going to school on a daily basis.. She was bored at home, but she likes to do things on her own time.. so She really liked only going to MDO a few days a week at Crossings with all her peeps, and then doing what she wanted on her 'days off'.. Well.. I mean don't we all love this? I'd rather do what I want all the time too, but.. thats not very realisitc..Especially for School.. because yeah, you have to go.. She loves her Teacher though, and once she gets there she has a blast. She's just a very complex little kid who already acts like a 4 year old Lawyer.. Lucky us.

Londyn on the other hand has been perfectly happy to go to school daily. She has met all kinds of friends and tells me all about her adventures daily. She is just happy like 90% of the time wherever she is at.. with whoever she is with. She's just a jolly soul. Some things never change.. like their faces.. lol She said she wanted to "Dance like the people on TV".. (we were watching those little kid dancers on America's got talent".. So we tried dance.. She loved it.. She loved Gymnastics.. We did Karate last week, she also loved that.. she's just pretty much happy doing whatever at any time.. I think we will go back to Karate though. We went to a place called "Christian Karate Academy" and it was so so awesome. They pray before.. set goals, teach respect, teach manners, teach self-confidence..and......Karate! It was the cutest thing ever to watch! So we will go back there next week.

We also had Neighbors night out in our Neighborhood and it was so fun! I love our neighborhood of always doing fun things for the kiddos and neighbors. We've still been swimming when we have time, and this weekend Gigi is Taking the Girls to Disney on Ice to see Queen Elsa.. they are very excited about this. State fair is a fun time!

Meanwhile I'm still buzzing along with my new radio gig. I have 4 jobs now.. but I love them all! I'm doing my regular Job as an IT Project Manager at Loves, I'm selling my Lipsense and loving that with all my girls, I do marketing for Spades Boutique, a cute little childrens online shop, and I've got my radio gig. On Hank FM 99.7. We stay plenty busy. If you haven't listened yet.. its an awesome station, and I'm on from 1-5pm on Saturdays, and 12-4 on Sundays.. so give it a listen! I'm enjoying it, and hoping to do more in the future.

Yeah My birthday is around the corner.. blah blah.. I'm old. I know.. blargh.. Anyway.. MJ has volunteered to take a few friends and I to a winery in Andarko for dinner and drinks.. that will be a good time.. Once again proving how awesome it is that I have a mini-van! So that will be fun.. Hope you guys are starting off your September with a bang! I'm blessed beyond I deserve and don't take it for granted! XoXo

I can't believe they are almost 3..

Man.. I can't believe in less than a week my girls will turn 3. In some ways it seems like a life time ago that they were born, and then in other aspects it seems like just yesterday. I can say for sure I don't miss the times when they were itty bitty.. Like 0-4 months. That was such a scary time for us. We had no clue about what to do with babies.. and we had two of them, so that only made us more crazy. People ask me about that time, and honestly, I only remember parts of it. I think my mind was part gone, and on Auto-pilot.. I know I wasn't sleeping much because they woke up every 2 hours, and then when they weren't awake, I was awake pumping.. so I think I might have just been delusional for the first 4 months..

After the 7 month.. life got better. I read the book "The Sleep Easy Solution" and it changed my life..and the girls sleeping habits.. I remember at the time thinking 0-6 months took forever, but 6 to 1 yr, flew by.. and then 1-2 flew by.. and now 2-3 has flown by. I feel sentimental as I write this, because I know I'm not going to have any more children. I don't want any.. but I feel like sometimes I just want to re-live the moments with mine over and over. This is a fun stage, but one of the hardest.. So trying on my patience, but also so rewarding, and everything just seems so uncertain.. Am I doing it right? What is a good way to Discipline? How do I get them to have manners? Why don't they like to eat Beans? Why are you asking me for Candy at 7am? Will you turn out ok? Do you know how much we love you? Are you sad that I don't stay home with you? Are you happy to be a twin? Is the sun going to burn you? Are ticks crawling on you? Is the Microwave giving you cancer? Are Those Gummies you love organic? Are you excited for pre-school in the fall? I mean.. I ask myself these questions every. single. Day..

And then the worrying.. oh geesh.. Its never ending, even though I'm smart enough to know that worrying does ZERO good. I've read Philippians.. I get it.. Yet it doesn't turn it off in my brain. Thankfully one of my spiritual gifts is FAITH and I truly do believe that God is going to take care of my family and I during all stages of life.. But as I watch what is currently going on in the world.. it gives me anxiety.. and worry creeps back in my mind. What if something happens to me? What if something happens to them? The What-if's can go on forever.. and the News reports certainly don't help calm that anxiety.. But.. at the end of the day.. I have to put those thoughts to bed and realize.. whatever happens.. whenever it happens.. Will be God's will for me, and it will be ok.. He will take care of us..and he will not leave us.

Last week.. after the 3rd person recommended it to me.. I decided to pickup "Love and Logic" for Toddlers.. for discipline ideas.. Well.. I've been doing it for over a week now, and man its TOUGH. Mainly on ME..They have audio CD's, and Books..

I think it actually works on the girls quite well.. but the biggest difference is how Jordan & I respond to them when they are acting foolish.. The premise is getting your kids to make good decisions.. because its a GOOD decision.. not because you said so. And giving them plenty of options to want to make good decisions. So instead of just barking orders at them.. I say "Uh oh.. I think there is a nicer way to talk to mommy. If you can't talk to mommy nicely then... XYZ".. Whatever your form of discipline will be.. For Cross, its having to go sit by herself.. that is the worst punishment for her, because it means she's away from me.. and since she wants to be with me all the time, this usually works pretty well. I'll tell her to go sit by herself until she can be happy and fun again.. and then she will come out, and say "I'm happy" and we move on.. Or "Uh Oh.. Mommy doesn't like to hear whining.. You can keep whining, you'll just have to go in the other room because it hurts Mom's ears"... There's no yelling.. No screaming.. No frustration.. So I think its actually been better for me.. Because you know, Parenting is FRUSTRATING.. and they make you want to pull your hair out sometimes! But me saying 'uh oh" is completely out of my character, and it immediately diffuses the situation because I sound so ridiculous! So we'll stick with it, and hopefully get better as we go along. I mean can you even imagine it right now? Me saying "UH OH".. It kills Jordan.. he laughs constantly.. lol.. So I guess thats another motivating factor.

 We have been having a lot of fun lately. A few weeks ago we went to the farm for Mothers day and the girls loved playing with Woody their horse, and Kris, the Donkey.. They loved the Hay-bales, and we loved watching them effortlessly run up and down them.. (Just like I used to do).. We went to a birthday party last week at Gatti Town.. We went Bowling at Redpin.. The Girls LOVE bowling.. Cross asks to go every day now.. We went to the Botanical Gardens and let the girls explore and run.. Then yesterday Leslie wanted the day off, so MJ stayed home with the girls and he and GT took them to the Science Museum! So they have really had a fun few past weeks!

This next week they will get to go back to Western Oklahoma and the farm and visit everyone out there.. MJ and I will put the finishing touches on the Michael Jackson birthday Party.. and then they will have their big Party on the 28th. I think it will be a lot of fun.. and I hope they recognize how awesome their hip mom is by throwing a Michael Jackson 3rd Birthday Party.. lol.. I have a feeling I'll probably always be trying to convince them that I'm pretty cool.. I'm putting a Mix CD in each of the goody bags to keep the dream alive..

The girls have started holding hands lately.. They really seem to love having each other around. They will always have someone to play with.. always have someone to talk to late at night.. always have someone who knows exactly how crazy their parents are.. always have someone to talk to.. always have someone to pray with.. I hope they always love each other like they love each other now.. Because its pretty great to watch.. and it makes me forget about all the times I've had to say "UH OH" this week.. lol.. #twinning

Who is this Guy?

This has been a rough week for MJ and I. We lost someone that we didn't really even know personally, but who impacted us in incredible ways.

When we heard the news on Monday about Aubrey McClendon being indicted.. all I kept thinking was.. "Ugh.Again. I'm so sick of hearing this crap". Was the man perfect? No. But we both always get fiercely defensive when talks of Aubrey come up.

I went to work at Chesapeake in the Summer of 2010. This was after I had been Let-go from the radio business and all my hopes and dreams were pretty much crushed at that point. Because I was on the radio for 13 years, I didn't know much about Chesapeake. I had heard about it.. and Drove by the awesome campus.. but I didn't "KNOW" what it was about. When I lost my job, both MJ and my mom kept saying "You should try to get on at Chesapeake, everyone who works there loves it".. and I kept thinking, "Why?".. I mean you have to imagine that for me, going from being an entertainer, to working at a corporate oil and Gas Company seemed like a stretch.. But God Works in mysterious Ways.

Out of the blue one day a message popped up from Linked In. An IT Project Manager, Bill, wrote me

"KC... I work at Chesapeake Energy... and wondered if you want me to inquire about a job for you there... Chesapeake is primarly a natural gas exploration and production company... very rapidly growing... It isn't radio **smile**, but most jobs pay well.. the culture is "hard working"... I don't know if there would be a match... but I can ask if you are interested. Bill"

On 5/25/2010, Bill McKinney said the following:

Bill would come to be a very important man to me. All I kept thinking, while super excited about this, was "Why in the world would this guy think I was even capable of working in the IT department at Chesapeake?" But for some odd reason.. he did.. 

My interview was hilarious. You have to remember people are LINED UP to work at Chesapeake. Most people would apply and never hear anything back.. This is my interview.. 

IT Person: So do you have a lot of IT experience?

Me: Well. In Radio IT. Like Editing Videos, web design, and Cool Edit. 

IT Person: Ok. Do you have any Experience with Windows Migrations?

Me: I use Vista. 

IT Person: Ok. Well do you think you can do the job?

ME: Yes. Whatever you need. 

And I was hired as a contractor in July 2010 to Help Bill Upgrade People to Windows 7. 

At first It was a complete and total Culture shock. Some ways Great.. other ways Awful. I basically had gone from entertaining people for 5 hours a morning to learning about Application development, Windows 7 Technical meetings, and how to CC people on an Email.. I was in a foreign land for my brain.. But my spirit was growing. Even though I was only a contractor I was still allowed to walk on this beautiful Campus. A campus with Ducks swimming in a pond underneath a bridge.. With beautiful fountains and trees that were planted exactly where the sun would shine through them every morning. Flowers that were planted AROUND those trees according to the season. Beautifully manicured lawns with Grass that stayed Green.. Amazing Restaurants with Culinary Chefs that made everything taste just a little bit better.. I mean it was like living in a magical land! 

After being there only a short time I realized I had one goal in mind.. I had to become a Real, Live, Chesaperson. Contractors don't get to do all the amazing things Chesapeople did.. and after I first Witnessed Halloween at Chesapeake.. Halloween was BIG at Chesa.. Big Prizes, big costumes, big food, big everything. It was AMAZING. One of my favorite things.. People went ALL OUT!  I realized I had to kick it up a notch. I HAD to be a Chesaperson!

Thankfully Bill was one of the smartest people I've ever been around in my life. Everyone Respected that guy. Wanted him to run their projects.. Wanted HIM on their team.. and for some reason he had Chosen ME.. So everyone just expected me to be Great like Bill.. Well.. I wasn't.. But I was funny, and entertaining.. And Bill liked that, and it happened to come in handy when we were dealing with Computer users.. So it was a perfect Match.. Bill took me everywhere with him.. Introduced me to Important People.. put me in important meetings.. And by the end of that Year I had 3 people asking me to be on their teams as a Real Chesaperson. I was elated.. you know why? Because Halloween was just around the Corner. You should know, that in my 2 years as a Chesaperson..I won the Halloween Contest.. both years. 

3 Months into my Official Chesaperson Life.. I was told to prepare for my Aubrey Meeting.. Now your Aubrey meeting is something you both Love & Fear. I was always amazed, that out of a company of 10,000 people, the CEO Still wanted to meet every single one of those people.. So my new Boss started to prepare me.. Give me the do's and don'ts, and asked me to be thinking about what I wanted my Aubrey Question to be.. But I already knew.. I was going to ask him when I could start a Chesapeake radio station. It made perfect sense to me. I worked up a logo, business plan, and got it ready.. Thankfully I had a really cool Boss at the time that didn't try to discourage me from asking my question.. He just told me I'd better really be ready to bring it when Aubrey answered.. 

My Aubrey meeting was just like everyone had said.. We all went into a big room, about 35 of us.. and waited for him to get there.. He showed up, on time, and went and sat right in the middle of the room. He was a BIG guy. Way Bigger than I was thinking.. He had a presence about him immediately.. and he ended up sitting right in front of me.. I was the 2nd person to ask my question (my boss had given me the heads up to sit to the right of Aubrey because he started on the right..and that way no one could possibly have the chance to ask the same question I was going to ask).. So when he got to me It went like this.

Aubrey: Hi there, tell me about you. Where you are from, How you got here, and What you do for me.

ME: I'm KC Sheperd, from Canute Oklahoma

Aubrey: Ahh yes. Home of the Trojans!

Me: Yes. I used to be a radio personality on KKNG and one of your IT guys thought I would be good at upgrading people to Windows 7. 

Aubrey: From Radio?

Me: Yes. 

Aubrey: Why would he think that? (we are both laughing at this point)

Me: I have no idea, but turns out he was right and I'm actually really good at it. 

Aubrey: Good to know. Glad he made a wise decision. 

ME: I agree. I work in IT now. I coordinate all the moves on Campus. 

Aubrey: Very good. That is a big job with as much as we move around here. Whats your Question?

Me: Given my extensive radio background, With all the technology we currently have on campus. why don't we start a Chesapeake Radio Station?

Aubrey:. Hmm. I had not thought about doing that. (looks to his assistant) Write that down and get back to her. Good question KC. 

And I really think we would have.. But not too long after that.. the Rolling Stone article came out and Chesapeake, and Aubrey had to go on the defensive. In My Aubrey meeting he told us to be "Endlessly Curious" and that is something I will always tell my girls. At at meeting he also handed us a giant bag of books. He loved to read.. it was like 15 books that he recommended to us. They ranged from new stuff, oil stuff, old stuff, entertainment.. etc.. He was always doing that. He would send out emails that he thought we would like.. He called every employee on their birthday and left them a voice message. Little things that took up SO much of his very important time. But he did them because he knew it made a difference to people.. and it made a BIG difference to me. 

I didn't have any more 1 on 1 time with Aubrey after that day.. But I felt so inspired by him. I emailed him a few times to let him know how much I appreciated how pretty the campus was, and how awesome it was to be a part of his vision.. I loved walking across the bridge to the fitness center each morning watching the ducks. He always emailed me back and said thank you. 

Even though I didn't see him a lot. I was fiercely protective of him. I felt the need to defend him to all the pessimists at every turn. To Protect him when anyone said anything bad about him. Because to me, he was a guy that GOT it. He knew that if you worked hard for your employees, and treated them well, they would work hard for you. After working for some really awful people in my career.. this was so refreshing. So exciting to have someone to look up to, a visionary.. Someone who was so charismatic when they spoke.. I didn't even have to know what he was talking about to know that I wanted to be a part of it. 

Throughout my short 2 years at Chesapeake.. I met so many great people.. Robin Wood, the Chesapastor was one of them. He would end up marrying Jordan and I and play an important role in our lives going forward. Aubrey was a true man of faith and thought it was important that the Chesapeake Campus have someone we could talk to when problems arose.. It was important to him.

So many friends.. that I still keep in touch with, and some that I work with now at Loves.. We all shared the same love for the Company Aubrey had built. The Amazing Parties..The Snacks, The Clothes,  The awesome "Chef's Specials" on Thursday.. the Incredible Campus.. The Christmas Lights! The Fitness Center..The Orange Juice that came freshly squeezed from the Orange Juice Squeezing Machine!!!  It was like we were all a part of the Cool Club.. We still are.. we still talk about it. We knew we were all living in a magical Land.. but boy was it fun while it lasted!

When Jordan was thinking about changing jobs from the Government.. to Aubrey's new company, AEP.. I told him.. "This will be an amazing opportunity for you. But if you go, don't go for money, Don't go for the job, Go because you believe in what Aubrey is doing".. and he went. Up to that point he thought I was a little insane about Aubrey. He didn't 'get it' yet.. But soon after he had his own Aubrey meeting, and several hilarious elevator conversations with him.. and he soon grew to see what everyone found so special about him. He never forgot Jordan's name.. Always slapped him on the back and told him he appreciated him. Had the BEST Christmas party ever that first year for AEP that I got to go too.. It was just awesome. All of it. Just like it had been at Chesapeake for me. 

I know that I will probably never know a guy like that in my life again. That is what is the most sad. Even though I didn't work for Aubrey anymore, I loved the fact that he was still out there pioneering and inspiring other people. I still will fiercely defend him. Especially now. And I understand those of you who don't get it.. thats ok. You don't know until you meet him, and sadly now you won't get to..

My thoughts and prayers are with his family, but I know they know what a special guy they had. How he inspired so many people and how even if you didn't KNOW him one on one, you knew you always wanted to know he was Out there.. Onward and Upward Aubrey. You were truly One of a kind, and I know the Good Lord is excited to have you up there! 

Property Brothers, where are you??

So for the past few months.. we have been in the process of selling a house, and buying another one.. When we went into this little adventure we thought it would be made up of Rainbows, unicorns, beautiful houses, awesome sellers, and perfect houses.. I can now tell you that it is made up of NONE of those things...

We sold our house Quickly.. 3 weeks to be exact.. We have an amazing realtor, Laura Feix from Harris Realty, who I have started to feel sorry for on a daily basis for having to deal with us, but she has stuck it through with us, and we are super thankful for that.. So.. We didn't really want to look at a TON of houses before we sold ours for fear that the other houses would sell and then we would be sad that we didn't get to pick them.. So we really didn't start looking hard core for a house until Late July.. We figured a 60 day close on our house would give us PLENTY of time to find another one... After all, we had already found several that we liked anyway, how hard could it be? Um Very..

Why you ask? Well.. because as awesome as MJ and I are.. We are really not built for house buying.. I'm not built for long term looking..and MJ is not built for negotiations.. This does NOT make a great buying team, lol.. We also don't come at things the same way.. so I'm looking at 1970's houses with waterfalls in their bathrooms thinking "Um, this is incredible!".. and MJ is thinking.. "You have lost your mind" while he is oogling a 3 car garage, theater room, or something new and shiny.. We don't really even agree on what KIND of houses we like.. We don't really know WHERE we want to be.. and HOW MUCH we want to spend... Once again, pray for Laura.

For those of you who don't know.. We bought our first house when it was almost finished.. Just finished enough where we got to pick out the carpet, fixtures, tile, paint, etc.. Guess how much I did of this? Yup. NONE. I hate stuff like that.. I don't care about paint or tile, and I dang sure don't care about grout color.. MJ, On the other hand, LOVES stuff like this.. and he did an amazing job with our house. Awesome tile, paint colors, backsplash, etc.. I mean its awesome.. thats why we sold it in 3 weeks! I was smart for leaving this to him, because I probably would have picked a rainbow Tile with crystals sparkling on top of it, and a hand painted mural of Roy Orbison.. Probably not great for resale value.. but anyway.. So he does all that and it turns out awesome.. The only thing I pick for the house? Bling Knobs for my Cabinet. They are legit. I love them.. and I'm taking them with me to the new house. That was my ONE thing.. Probably for the best..

So the first offer we made didn't agree to what we asked for.. and we walked.. only for them to come back and agree to it later, and us to decide we didn't want to spend that much money.. The 2nd offer we made was just kinda weird.. WE couldn't get the info we wanted, and they couldn't get the price they wanted.. and it made us all feel uneasy, so we walked..

The 3rd offer we made the seller decided he was not down to pay any closing costs. Like Any.. Well that was obviously not workable for us, so we even offered him MORE than he had the house listed for.. He STILL said no.. even though the house had been on the market for a LONG time..and he had no other offers.. Still said No.. So at this point.. I'm throwing money at people screaming "SELL ME A HOUSE! And praying Laura doesn't walk out the door.. But like I said, she's awesome.. so she only continued to power through with us, pray with us, and fight the good fight!! At this point I'm also thinking its a shame that Property Brothers, or Fixer Upper is not ringing me on the phone.. then I remember that I didn't really apply to be on that show.. so there's that..


Finally.. Finally... We came back to a house.. Agreed on a house.. because at this point.. we are truly running out of time. We close on our house Sept 25, and you have to do inspections, appraisals, blah blah.. so we literally had 0 days left.. BUT.... We have a house!!!! And its close to everything we do in life..church.. work..friends, etc.., With wood floors, a field for the dogs, more space... And yes, MJ got the 3 car garage, and No, I don't have a waterfall for a bathtub.. boo.. But...Marriage is all about compromise folks.. So thank you so much to Laura Feix.. We could not have done this, or would have wanted to do this without her.. She's been super helpful throughout this process, and we have appreciated her honest opinions and the fact that she always had our best interest in mind.

Do also want to give special Shout out to our Awesome Mortgage person, Ces Vorse at 1st Mortgage Company.. Love her and couldn't have done this without her either.. She is EXCELLENT at her job.. and fabulous... which are 2 great qualities! We have some awesome ladies in our life! So with that being said.. We are moving on up! I'll have more details on the house and such at a later date..

In other sad news.. My friend Shelly died last week. She was only 46 years old. I've known her since 2005 and we have had a lot.. LOT of fun together.. We went to college together, worked in radio together, and attended MANY a concert together.. We even managed to make it to Hawaii!! I think she had been sick for awhile, but no one really knew that..and I will say that she certainly went out with a bang.. Taking some trips to New Orleans, awesome concerts and such.. She was truly the life of the Party and she always readily accepted new friends and made them feel welcome. She was a gem, and I'll really miss her smile. RIP Shell.. I know you'll be throwing awesome parties in Heaven, and you'll be glad to hug your mama again. Thanks for all the good times.

Brand Spankin New Year!

Well Welcome to a new year!! Its so weird to think that last year at this time I was big pregnant.. and you might be saying "Were you really that Big?".. Yes, with twins you pretty well blow up. I blew up when I was about 18 weeks pregnant.. I remember thinking last year at this time, "Holy Wow. I'm going to have two babies this year!" and how that blew my mind.. Well who am I kidding, it STILL blows my mind! Its just unreal that I was able to create two, Live, Humans!! God truly made the human body amazing.. especially the WOMEN's.. Because lets be honest, the part that the men contribute is the fun part.. not the break your back, bloated, painful, ruiney part.. Sorry guys.. So this year its a whole new time.. The girls will be turning ONE on May 25th. I can't believe they are 7 months old..Well yes I can.. because some of that went REALLY slow..but the past few months have went pretty fast. They are so fun and cute now. They make me laugh every single day by doing something ridiculous. Right now Crosslee is taking off..she Crawls backwards, rolls everywhere, and pulls up on stuff. I'm wondering if she is going to skip crawling and just go straight to walking. She seems to want to do that. I cannot imagine. I'm not ready for two Mobile babies!!

LL (Londyn Lucille) seems to pick up new things each day that are funny. Like right now she does weird things with her hands. She makes rolling motions with her fingers like "come here to me" and she does this funny laugh where she goes huhh uhhh uhh uuu.. Its bizarre, but hilarious. I can honestly say they are both the best babies. They sit and play by themselves without crying. They have started to enjoy each other and laughing at one another. Its so cool to watch them interact and know that they will always have each other. Twins is a very special bond that only they will have.. Speaking of Twins, I've met so many cool twin moms from Facebook.. we are planning a meetup in June. I feel like I know these women like my best friends, so it will be so fun to get to meet them and their babies in real life! More details to come on that.. So I know you are just dying to know what I did on New Years Eve right?!?!... Yeah, I was in bed by 9pm.. Lol. I know, I suck, but man these days after I work all day and come home to play with the babies and dog babes, I'm spent...MJ stayed up till Midnight and came in and gave me a kiss, and that was the end of that. Non eventful. I could try and blame my lameness on the girls, but I was lame BEFORE I had babies, so Its on me. Sorry. Lame.

In other news, we finally bought a new refrigerator.. After having one that made our butter taste like metal for the past 4 years, we threw caution to the wind and got a fancy one.. Its not that Fancy, but it does have a third drawer for MJ's Pop..He was super excited about this..I only care about having ice water, so I'm good to go with that. It looks awesome though, and really makes our kitchen look nice..

Job is still going great.. Girls are doing well..Life is good. We started up our small group again last night at Church, and I can't tell you what a blessing our small group is.. Its so nice to have a group of people to just talk to, pray for you, and know what you are going through. We love every couple in there, and I'm so thankful for them. Right now one of the things of doing is 30 days of gratitude for our spouses. Every day you say/do something nice for your husband/wife. I think this is an awesome way to keep some perspective in your marriage..with work, and babies, and life, its easy to get lost in other things other than each other, and I'm so excited to have a strong, solid, awesome marriage for not only MJ and I, but for our girls. I want to be those old people that hold hands on their way into church and talk about our keys to staying married. I love that.

The Last one Picked..

I had a pretty good weekend.. We (the family and I) went to the farm to see Gigi and Papa, and Grammy J & Pops.. However, I was also helping watch the cattle.. Well I get there and Steve had to pull a calf the night before.. It was HUGE.. way too big and had trouble..Its head and tongue were swollen and he thought it would probably die.. but it didn't.. (yay!) but it couldn't eat from its mom, which meant I had to run a tube down its throat to feed it (boo).. This was nerve wracking to me because 1) if you get it in the lungs, the calf dies.. or 2) if you choke the calf it dies.. Well Mom and I manage to get it done..Correctly! Success! Only to have the calf die 6 hours later anyway.. (sigh).. LIfe on the farm.. But we did have a great time taking the girls to visit the grandparents..

Last week MJ & I took the girls to Northpark Mall to Trick or Treat. They had fun. They didn't really trick or treat, but they loved watching all the other kids walk around in their costumes. We had a good time, and thats a great idea to do if you have kiddos trick or treating next year. Then we went over to Laura & Terry's house to visit with them.. Laura made Whoopie Pies, which were Whoopietastic!

So I'm going to be honest with you... Looking for a job sucks. There are several layers of suckiness to this process, so I thought I'd go over a few of them for you in hopes that you will never be in this situation.. BUT if you are, you'll know what to expect.
1) You constantly feel like you are the last person picked on the playground.. No one likes that.. especially Me, because I was never that guy.. Well when you get let go from your job, and others get to stay, its impossible not to feel like you weren't "Picked".. which is sucky.

2) You have to FIND jobs.. Finding jobs is a new level of suckiness.. because even if you find a magical one, there is still no guarantee that they are going to PICK you, so you are back at square one. So you have to look for jobs all over 345443 different sites and sift through.. blargh. No likey.

3) You have to update or create your resume'.. Now this one is really a pain. Especially if you have had several jobs in different industries. Imagine mine "Former radio personality now working in IT that has also taught in College".. Yeah.. it doesn't make much sense.. BUT thats really my life! So I have to try and build a resume out of that even though it looks and sounds ridiculous. Most people are already thinking "How in the hell did a radio personality end up in IT anyway?".. Yes, I get it.. and yes, its hard to describe on paper.

4) Once you get your resume finished.. You realize that it is pretty lame compared to the coolness that you actually are in REAL life as opposed to on paper.. For example, Am I going to write "Dabbles in Accordion playing and able to Whistle masterfully the "Winds of Change" song?" Or "Shoulder Checked Bobby Mercer to get a great Picture with Garth brooks?" Probably not.. Is that kinda awesome? Um yes it is.

5) If you happen to get a hit on your resume, and you do get called in for an interview.. THEN you get to try to convince people that you are awesome and should give you the job.. You may be saying, like I am right now, "How do they not know of my awesomeness?" I don't know.. this will always be a mystery to us both.. but thats how it works in real world land, and yes, its sucky.

6) You will apply to some jobs that you are WAY over qualified for, only for people to say to you "You aren't really qualified for this job".. Um how does that work? I once applied for a Communications job to have the people say to me "You don't really have enough communication experience".. Oh! Ok, that makes sense! I thought being on the Radio for 13 years, TEACHING radio, and Communicating with the world EVERY DAY would suffice as being a good communicator!! Sorry, bout that! I'm just silly!".. So get ready for that..

7) Lets pretend you do get the resume, you do great in the interview, and you get the job.. HOORAY! Guess what? All your insurance, and vacation days start over. WHAT! But I had just earned 4 weeks 2 day at my LAST job! And I may have to go to the doctor in the next 90 days, what do I do? Oh.. I can't? And Nothing? Great.. That sounds awesome!! lol.. So yea.. go ahead and slap me in the face.. Hopefully by that point you are uber excited to have the new job and you won't care about vacations or having to go to the Dr.

So.. those are just a few things I'm pondering today.. As I'm reading them, I realize that's really negative and schmowy, so now we are going to focus on a couple of cool things about not having a job, and since its November, we are also going to be thankful. Here's some positive, thankfulness things.

1) I have really cute kids.. Not only that.. they are GOOD babies. People keep asking me if they are like that all the time.. The answer is yes.. Because I think when the Lord gives you more than one, he makes them extra sweet because if not, he knows you might want to put them outside..

2) While not only cute, and good.. My girls are healthy. We haven't been to the Dr for anything since they were born but shots. How great is that! I'm super happy they are healthy, but the cute thing is a "double" bonus.. (see what I did there? double.. twins.. Zing!)

3) I get to spend more time with my girls! We still have Lapoppins, (the nanny) but she has been sick lately, so I've been spending more time with them every day and enjoying watching them do new things. They are both rolling over, and sitting up.. Crosslee tries to feed herself, and Londyn tries to crawl. They are cute and sassy.

4) I have the Best husband.. Like ever. He is not one of those that has just thrown the girls onto me while he goes to watch TV or play video games.. He helps me in every aspect of parenting. He's sweet, generous, patient, and caring.. and Yeah, we probably screw some things up sometimes, but I'm so glad to be on this journey with him and no one else. Plus he supports me in whatever I want to do, even if its ridiculous and a pipe dream.. He's still my biggest fan. Plus I really just love love him. I waited my whole life for him, and marriage is so much easier when you marry the person that God built JUST for you.

5) I have an amazing family, and the girls have amazing people who love them. Some People will say divorce is awful, and yes, I agree, at the time it usually is.. But my girls have 4 sets of grandparents that love to be around them, kiss them, hug them, and spoil them.. So I think thats pretty great. They will never know what its like to only have ONE set of grandparents at Christmas, and thats awesome. The other cool thing? My brother Grant, and Sister Lexi, all had kids within 8 months of each other! So now our kiddos are going to get to grow up close to the same age and hopefully form a tight bond. We got to stop by and see my Sister and Cousin Joe on Sunday.. The girls had fun with him (see left) he's a cutie!

6) I have great friends. I don't see them that much, but when I do, we jump right back in where we left off. I've also been sad to have left some of my friends at my former job, but I've kept in touch, and I know that I've made some friends for life there too. I know that my friends love the girls, and would always help out if I needed them.

7) I have an amazing church, and an amazing church family. When Jordan and I think back on our journey through church we get so excited. We had wanted to know Terry & Laura on a personal level for years because we had looked up to them and just thought they would be excellent people to get to know and be around. Now we are privileged to call them friends and they are also in our girls lives which is such a blessing. We love hearing about their family, and I know they will be a strong support system for us as we raise our girls. We also have an amazing small group family that prays for us, and encourages us.. We love going there knowing that there are people going through the same things we are, and that we can all be there for each other. Plus, my church, Crossings, Is just amazing. If you've ever visited there, you know what I'm talking about.. If not, come on by, you are always welcome.

8) I serve an amazing God. I am one that truly believes "Through Trials comes Grace" and sometimes you just have to go through the crummy stuff to get to the good stuff. I know that this is a trial in my life, but I know its not without reason..and that everything I'm doing today will be preparing me for something awesome later on. God & I have never agreed on 'timing' but I've always realized that his timing, and his plans are way better than anything I could have come up with on my own.. so sometimes you just have to be patient and trust his plan. Patience has never been my virtue.. I have many others, but that's not one of them.

So.. while I continue to look for a job, I'm going to be thinking of other things I might want to do with my life.. I enjoy writing this blog, and found out that it can now be published on Amazon and then people can read it on their kindle or Ipad, or tablet.. so that's pretty sweet. I'm working on getting that done now. I'm also working on the Podcast.. Hopefully Lapoppins will be feeling better soon and I can get that done.. While squealing children would appeal to some on the podcast.. Might not appeal to others! lol.. So I'll have to do it when they are resting or doing something fun with Lapopps. I'll keep you posted on that..

I"m going to watch the CMA awards tonight.. They will be good.. As bad as I hate to admit this, Crosslee loves dancing to the "Catfish Dinna" song by Luke Bryan.. blargh.. lol.. but it is catchy.. Hope you guys are good!!
XXOO
K