So sad...

Knowing that we have Gymboree in the morning {Monday} and a conference for the next three days to attend it becaome obvious that I had to take the dogs out today. So I took the dogs in the car up to the park {I know...so lazy and somewhat defeating of the walking process in the first place but in my defence it was late and the sun had already gone behind the mountains}. I wore my fleece lined windbreaker as there was a cool breeze thinking that it was a bit of overkill but hey, I could always leave it unzipped if I got too hot.

Well.

It was cold. My wearing of the fleece-lined windbreaker wasn't overkill at all. The wind was biting and oh, so nasty. I did my jacket up all the way, wrapped my scarf as many times around my neck as was humanly possible and pulled the hood over my head. I was still so cold! Another lady who was at the dog park running her dogs as well started slurring her words because her lips got so cold. It's just not right for it to be that cold and the worst thing is that we're not even into winter and definitely not in the coldest part of the US! Goodness knows how people survive in those places.

So, I've got a question. A dilemma if you will. Is it right to wish that your dog will poop so that when you pick it in up your hand it will become temporarily warmer?

I wished that today.
And it was. Oh so delightfully warm.
I'll admit it.
Oscar made my hand warmer. Thanks mate. That's what true friends will do for you. Love you dog.

Is it right? I know it's so sad...
{perhaps I should just wear gloves next time and bypass this dilemma?}

Thinking

So, with Thanksgiving tomorrow I've been doing some thinking.

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia {I know it still surprises some people that it's not celebrated all over the world!} I still want the girls to have Thanksgiving traditions in their lives. After all, they are Australian Americans.

So, how do I start traditions such as this in our lives when I don't really understand the holiday itself? I mean, on The Next Iron Chef finale the other night the chefs were tasked with creating a Thanksgiving meal. One of the chefs did not use turkey at all stating that turkey was not a part of the first Thanksgiving! Who knew?

Not me! {Not that I mind as I am not a big fan of turkey - it's just not that popular in Aus}.

I've been trawling the blogs tonight {yep, the legs are up} and reading some wonderful posts about how thankful people are. I've also seen some great crafts they've created for themselves and their kids to do that help in perpetuating that thankfulness. The girls are too young to appreciate the stuff that's out there so I'm going to have to wait perhaps another year before we can do some crafts together. I think it'll be a while before I'm going to have to learn about the history behind Thanksgiving though and even longer before they will get turkey served at the table.

Yes, I don't do turkey. It's just not something that I care for. We're doing brisket - cooked in the smoker. So tasty. As for marshmallow yams...I like yams...I like marshmallows but just not together. Mashed taters? Who can say no to mashed taters but I prefer potatoes au gratin. Pumpkin pie...No. Pumpkin is best roasted and that's all I have to say on that matter. Green bean casserole? While I'm not a fan of this sidedish I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow. Kendall is such a fan of green beans and peas that I cannot ignore this dish just on that alone. Maybe I can jazz it up and make it work for my tastebuds that way. Mac and cheese? As much as the thought of mac and cheese used to make me go uhhh.. when I was in Aus...I absolutely adore it now. The more the better! {I love it so much that when I give it to the girls for lunch or dinner I secfretly hope that they're not that hungry and I can finish it for them! I'm a bad mummy!}

Now, in the spirit of thankfulness here is what I am thankful for-
- My hubby. The man who rocks my world and lets me know every day how much I am loved. It's a wonderful feeling to have someone as fantastic as him in my life.
- Our girls. Every day I am in awe of these two incredible souls. My life is so much more complete now that these two are running it. I am in the best plave and that makes me happy.
- My family. Even though we're continents apart we can still have conversations as if we've seen eachother the day before. That rocks.
- Our friends. Goes without saying I know. It's great to have someone to vent to when I need to vent {Kerri}. I am going to miss the adult interaction that I get on a semi-regular basis when we move to TX next year. Fingers crossed life will suck in Vegas without us! they will realize how much more opportunities there are in TX and move there with us! {Just run with it ok?}
-Our business. It provides us with a lifestyle that we love and it's only a matter of time before we can provide it more time in the near future. It's our baby too.
- Our fur babies. I didn't mean to put them so far down the list but it just happened. These boys are cool and despite the hair, tooting and the roughousing, it is refreshing to be demanded to provide love (i.e. brushing, patting etc).

I'm sure there's more things to be thankful for but it's getting late and my brain is a little fried. Happy thanksgiving to all our American friends!

What the..?

RV re-do update:

Painting: The cabinets have been done. The walls are on their third colour choice. Why? I don't know why but each colour has either been too light or too yellow. We just cannot seem to get it right. Hopefully third time is a charm...

Bathroom: Not been touched due to carpet being stubborn and not coming up as easily as it did in the main cabin. Sigh...

Floor: Not been started and won't be until we finish the painting

Dinette: Tabletop has been resurfaced and back in our little hands. The dinette seats (and the captain's seat) are currently at the upholsterers.

Speaking of which....It appears that Storm and I have expensive taste when it comes to picking out fabric. Yes, (not that I had any real experience with selecting upholstery fabric though) that the one that we have chosen is $45 per yard. What the? This fabric had better call me momma when it's done!

{By the way, I've not posted any pics of the progress as it really looks like a mess in there and the colour on the walls is so funky/creamy/blah that it's almost embarrassing! Cannot wait until it is done as Stormy will be happy and less stressed and I can finally get to drive it! Yes, I haven't driven it yet and won't until all the little things are fixed on it. Also Storm took it for a drive the other and learned quickly about how important it is to put all things away securely. Otherwise the damage can be fun to clean up!}

Guess what I'm wearing?

And no, this isn't one of those dirty posts.

I am wearing a snuggie! Not just any snuggie, it's the snuggie that I won at Bloggy Boot Camp on Saturday. Yes, I won a snuggie and it's actually quite warm and soft and even has pockets for tissues and stuff. In fact I feel snuggled hence, the snuggie name... If it was pink it would rock more!

So the bloggy conference wrap up is as follows:

We are on PST. The conference was MST so we were an hour behind to start with and didn't realize until we were about 65 minutes into the 90 minute trip. Luckily we had left a little early {so we could stop and have coffee beforehand - didn't happen of course!} and arrived 20 minutes into the day's events. We had a good laugh and so did the hubs when we called them. Sigh...

So, walking into an already started conference full of ladies was intimidating enough but being allocated to the front table for assigned seating just wasn't happening. Yes, we had assigned seating which actually didn't turn out too bad. We got to meet some really nice ladies that way and even the owners of some blogs that I follow. {Almost like meeting Oz!}

Did I learn something? Well, yes I did. Will I implement my knowledge soon? Possible. Do I have thoughts about what I definitely need to learn? Can I get  "Hell Yes"? There is so much out there that I need to learn to be able to get BC going the social media way we want to and not pay someone to do it.

It was fun.

Oh and did I mention that the conference was in St George, UT? The place with some really cool outlet stores? Yes, it had to be done. I got a bargain that I am so happy with that it deserves a separate post. Soon...

New hat!

This is how we amused ourselves on Tuesday night.

Go figure...Sydney loved the diaper on the head concept and happily wore it back and forth all night. She had a ball!

 {Yes, daddy's drinking wine in the background.}

 Love the hair at the front.

 And why wouldn't Kendall get in on the action? We had to get another diaper just for her and she managed to get it on her head all by herself. She was so proud!

 Ta-da!

 Didn't last for long though and of course, in came the thumb...

 So much fun!

I told you!

I told you it was coming.
Again, I cannot help it.
It's an addiction that I'm unable to overcome.

Yes, apart from being a Sons-of-Anarchy-aholic {yes, it's Tuesday night and I'm posting again - tonight's episode was so good! Oops off track again!},

I'm also a Christmas-aholic.

It's a double-edged sword of joy and pain that makes me oh, so, extremely happy.

I've been exchanging my normal decor for Christmas deccies and it's been taking me longer than I thought {between packing all the normal decor properly - it's going to TX that way - and putting the legs up at night, I get a limited amount of time to spend actually getting into the garage and fishing out my totes!}. I'll take pics once I'm done.

But the tree is up! And the girls are seriously loving it.

What's not to love? The lights...

The tree skirt - so spotty!



The ornaments {in this case...bells that ring-a-ling!}

 Oh the bells, the bells! Oh so tasty...

 The tinsel {Note: tinsel doesn't actually go on the tree but it was in the box so they rocked it out only as 16-month olds can!}

 The coloured, plastic garlands. Not the tastiest thing but they were put up high in the tree so they couldn't be put in the mouth again...

So, the challenge is/was - how to get the girls to look but not destroy! I've put all my keepsake ornaments back in the box for this year and only hung the ones that don't have as much sentimental value. We'll see how it goes and hopefully won't need to say "No...don't touch/put that in your mouth/pull on the tree/pull at the pine cones" etc 35 million times throughout the day.

It's a learning opportunity in my very own home! 

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Well it ain't actually frightful just yet but I was cold.

We wanted to head up to the mountain before it snowed and let the girls hang out a bit to practice walking etc. I was thinking - no problems, there won't be a crowd {why would there be - it's Thursday?}, we'll be in and out in no time and be able to get the groceries on the way home. Easy peasy - the girl's will be up for it!

Well...hello Veteran's Day! Car park was full-ish and surprise..it was c-c-COLD!!!! I mean brass monkeys cold. Why? Well, even though I made sure to take the girl's warm jackets with us, I forgot about myself and took a woollen, three-quarter sleeve jacket with me. My wrists got so cold that they were stiffening up. We made it to the end of the carpark before I made us turn back. I was losing feeling and that just ain't right {and those who know, know that I cannot stand being cold. Heck, that's why we're moving to TX!}

It got down to 28 degrees at 4pm {soooo not nice!} and the food was below par {now don't get me wrong...it's not like it's gourmet up there but it was bad this time!}. The girls ended up cranky and we didn't get the groceries. 

Oh well...sometimes you can and sometimes you can't.

Storm with Kendall.

 Posin' with the babes. Ahhh...this is happy!

An afternoon's joy

It's a challenge keeping kids occupied for any parent so when the girls find their own "bliss" it's very important to me to encourage it.

Here is their bliss from this afternoon...

Remember Kendall's obsession with the doggoes? Well she found a dogbrush and proceeded to brush Rudy. And he will let anyone brush him even if it is done "amateurishly". It's still love.

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 Break time. Time for hugs and some thumbsucking.

 Thanks for the the brushing Kendall! {See Rudy's shaved area from the surgery? He's healing up well but still has some pain after running etc. I hope it's just the internal stitches and nothing else!}

 Meanwhile, Sydney was content reading a book. The girls are fighting a lot over this book at the moment as there's a ton of pics with kiddies and babies in it. I mean they fight. Sydney actually went to bite Kendall tonight when Kendall tried to grab it away from her. Yay! What's it gonna be when they get older? Knives? Pistols at 20 paces? Gees....

 Lovin' the pics of the kiddies and pointing at each and every one.

 This pic is from yesterday afternoon. We bought camping chairs for the girls when we were out looking for RV accessories. Lo and behold they are a great size and have become a fave of the day play toy.

I love Syd's smile. She poses so nicely these days.

It's begun....

I can't wait.
I can't!
I've tried...really I have.

I wanted to be respectful towards the Thanksgiving holiday and wait but it's all around me, calling me, taunting me. It's just not right but I've gotta do it.

Can you guess what I'll be doing the next few days?

It's time. That's all I have to say.

P.S. That's just two of the sets of "preseason" purchases that I have made from Rodworks. There's still another bag to go and then I have the stuff from the garage. I'm obsessed. I know it. And it's only going to get worse now that I have an additional two reasons to love it more!

That time again?

I can't believe that I'm blogging during Sons of Anarchy again. {So I must apologize if this post is a little disjointed. My concentration is confined solely to the time during the ads!}

We've had an interesting day today. More tears {no scars thank goodness!} than we've had for a while but also more success. Syd is happily walking around and mind you she has an expression of smugness/pride that cannot be beat! In saying all of that, Kendall is catching up oh, so quickly. She is gathering confidence at every opportunity and is quite happy to have a go - almost recklessly - and try and walk to you. Her balance is getting better {she can still throwdown like a drunk at 4.30am on Sunday morning trying to walk home!} but she is so proud when she gets to where she plans to go {only Storm or myself}. Her grin and joy at her own effort is contagious!

Another highlight {actually from last night} was a "conversation" that Storm and I witnessed between the girls. It was a beautiful moment full of giggling, gesturing {towards the loungeroom and back into their bedroom}, "TwinSpeak" and patting eachother on the back/arm {yes, they're comforting eachother - so cute I could die!}. It was like they were deciding whether it was better to move the "party" into the loungeroom for milk or to stay in the bedroom with the toys/dogs/parents. The whole interaction went on for about a minute and a half and was just so intense and deliberate. It left Storm and I marveling at how wonderful it is to have twins....

Our new baby

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, no, I am not pregnant.

No the surprise is that we've now joined the ranks of those who vacation in a RV. We're both so very excited as we've always talked about and wanted this for a long time. I have been wanting to see the country and what a better way to do so than in a cabin on wheels? Can anyone say roadtrip?

So here's the rundown - it's a 27ft 1992 Tioga Montara Class C with a E350 Ford engine. It can sleep six if you really want to jam them in. There's the usual items found in a RV - stovetop, oven, fridge, shower, toilet, dinette, limited storage, a queen size bed at the back and a double/full bed at the front above the cab.

So, you need to remember that this is a 1992 model (now 18 years old) and I want you to keep an open mind when it comes to the decor. Also remember that we bought it from a guy who used it to go fishing with his buddies so it was missing some TLC/cleaning.

So without further adieu...The BEFORE shots!

The cab is really straight and the engine is clean. It starts without hesitation and drives like a big SUV. The home end needs a new paintjob to make it shiny though - or maybe we can wash and wax it - who knows?

 No awning but not a deal breaker. Will look at getting one put on later. Until then we'll take our own pop-up tent thingey to hang out in outside.

 The entrance. Leaves a bit to be desired? The carpet {now gone today thanks to Stormy's huge effort - should have seen the tacks in it} was a beautiful shade of blue with flecks of dirt and grime in it. I'm afraid that the pics just don't give the carpet justice. Hopefully the removal of the carpet will help with the musty smell {that is slowly dissipating in the cabin}. One highlight of today is that Storm found lino underneath the carpet, so with a little surface prep we can lay lino tiles over the top without major fuss. Yay! FYI the battery for the generator is under the step so that is why there is the "tear" in the carpet.

 The bed above the cab. Where do I start? The curtains. Oh, first things to come out! I kept them to use as templates so I can sew new ones but very yukky and musty! This is where we will sleep. We plan to put the girls in the main bedroom area in the back so they can sleep and {hopefully} not wake up when we're in the rest of the cab or outside. Anyway, we are going to need a new mattress {or we can use a blow up mattress for a while. We'll see on prices of 2 new mattresses before we go crazy!} but it's probably the original mattress {18 years old and who knows who's been on it? It's gotta go!}

 The drivers seat. Dash is great. Needs the grip thingey from around the steering wheel to be cut and removed and new seat covers.

 The passenger seat. Ditto on the car seat cover {light blue velveteen just won't cut it for me!} The carpet is blue in the cab part and somewhat stained. It will need to be cleaned massively as we do not plan on replacing that at the moment.

 Storm sitting in the seat behind the cab. The door is to the right of the photo. We need to seriously paint the walls and reupholster the chair too. It matches the driver and passenger seat.

Oh the mirror inlay on the upper cabinets. Glorious huh? Can you see the material that I'm dealing with in this RV? It's everywhere! It looks mouldy but actually a gold "speckle" and just musty smelling. Not quite sure what's gonna happen with the mirrors. We may "frost" them so that the pattern is gone. I'm too supersticious to break them and remove them that way.



 This is the dinette area. This photo was taken from outside the doorway. The table is missing as the guy we bought it from is redoing the surface {he's a cabinet guy} and we'll get it back from him on Monday. The upholstery on the actual seats is quite good.  I'm holding out on replacing these just yet even though this is the "last resort" bed. This will be one of our last projects should it happen but it will get a great clean at the least.

 The black spot on the dinnette is the outside temperature gauge. It goes out the window. It is not a stain thank god.

 The kitchen. A very good clean is needed. New panelling to be put onto the fridge and whilst we're on the fridge - did I mention a good clean or a supersonic clean? Oh and I haven't mentioned the "surrounds" that are "embracing" all of the windows. It's a complimentary velveteen blue that needs to come off immediately {and they all did today! Thanks again Stormy}. Everything is in working order which is fantastic. The fridge can be electric or generator run so we just need to plan ahead with that. Water pressure is good and the water heater is in good nick.

 The view from the dinnette "area" to the bedroom area at the back. The guy said it was a new queen bed mattress but that just don't cut it with me. Can anyone say curb alert??? There's a bit more storage than I thought there would be. There are so many configurations on the class c motorhomes so obviously we could have had more but we also could have had less too. I'll survive and become extremely creative. Now with this being the girls room then we plan on putting them in their pack'n'plays and putting them on the bed frame. This way I can get to them, they won't fall out of bed nor wake eacother up with their erratic moving that they both do during the night. Hopefully there's enough room - I still haven't measured it out just yet. There's no door between the bedroom and other part, it is divided by a curtain. So we can shut out light but not noise. We'll see how challenging that will be shortly.

 The view back from the bedroom to the front. Yes, and the handle on the left indicates a door that leads to the....

  ...bathroom. Check out the shower! It needs new lining but we're thinking about a plastic shell. Gotta love the towel rack. Oh and there's carpet in the bathroom. Gotta go. On a positive note I am really pleased that there is a shower for the girls. Can you imagine going to the showers in a RV park and having to put the girls down on the floor to get the towels or dress them? No thanks. I can wear thongs (flip flops for you yanks) but the girls can't. So I will wash them in the shower in our RV. Nice.

 The throne. No number "2"'s in here. Storm already isn't looking forward to the dumping of the tank. Remember the scene with Robin Williams in RV? I'm gagging just thinking about it...

 And the sink. It needs updating but at the same time it is in ok condition so it can wait.

 Anyway, that's the tour of the new baby. {Sorry about the quality of the shots. My camera lens doesn't do micro like it should}. I'll post pics of the projects as they get completed. Cannot wait for them to be done and our "maiden" voyage to San Diego in February to come around. Woo hoo!

Puppy love

We're really lucky to have two wonderful puppy-dogs in Rudy and Oscar. They are so loving towards the girls and are really happy to see them in the a.m. or after a nap.

It's not uncommon for Rudy to go into the girl's room, try and stick his nose through the crib bars and lick them to say hi. Rudy can be a little rough in his enthusiasm which can backfire especially if the girls start crying {he just wants to comfort them!}.

Oscar on the other hand is so patient and lets them crawl all over him. Well truly it is really only one child who is as obsessed with the puppy's like me. Kendall. She says hi to them at every opportunity and if there's a brush around (dog brush, hairbrush, even toothbrush!) she just has to brush the doggies. 

This is what happened the other night. This is the new expression that Kendall keeps popping out. It looks like someone tooted!

 Now she poses! Won't do it on Halloween though... 

 Now she's giving both dogs hugs!

She is so fascinated by hair. She will sit and pull apart a tuft of hair or look at one strand of hair for ages. I suppose I should look at the bright side - her fine motor skills are improving!

 TA DA! Look ma - no hands!

The girls just love this toy. They can amuse themselves for ages playing with all of the different features. Oh and slamming the door...

And who could forget the other bodies in the room. For this particular set of photos we were in the girls' room. It is a 10ft by 10ft room. Tiny for 2 adults, 2 kiddies and 2 doggies with 2 cribs, assorted toys and a whole lotta love! Storm often comments that we went and did the renovations on the house but we all always end up together whether it's on our bed or in the girls' room. We're tight.

Houston, we have problem

They're following in our footsteps. I don't let them watch TV per se. They get their reading video in the morning and then usually Barney in the afternoon before dinner. Is this too much? Maybe..but one thing is for sure. They lurve TV!

Kickin' it Halloween pj style!

Aren't they cute in their Halloween PJ's?