11,687.7504 days x 2.

day 31 of march.       1978.

55 minutes short of midnight.

out I came 1 girl

then

 5 minutes til

day 1 of april

big big surprise a boy too.

no foolin' here.

twins it was?! 

1 timmy.  1 tammy.

happy birthday brother!  happy birthday me!

Preparing for Easter . . .

  in more ways than one.

                                                                     

                                                                     Have a GREAT week!

tub dancin' and quilt update.

We were all in the bathroom during "tub time" - Bryan, Isla, and me

witnessing Maddox dance it up (and sing too.) 

Like I've stated before, Maddox is usually a pretty shy guy,

but if you catch him with his guard down he gets pretty wacky. 

He started off by singing slow soft songs and then

finished with something he called

"The Tooty Tot". 

The Tooty Tot, the tooty tot,

the tooty ta ta,

thumbs up,

elbows back,

feet apart,

knees together,

bottoms up,

tongue out,

close your eyes,

and turn around.

(maddox's version)

 He then proceeded to turn around in circles, with his eyes closed,

tongue out, shaking his tushy, singing tooty tot tooty tot tooty ta ta,

all while in his birthday suit in a half full tub. 

It was entertainment for all.

(after doing a little YouTube research I found out this "Tooty Tot" thing

must be a pretty popular song and dance amongst the young folk)

A BIG thanks to all of this fabulous teachers for loving him as much as we do

and opening up his imaginative 4 year old mind to so many

wonderful, creative activities! 

You are the BEST!

And I promise this is the  last time you will have to see this thing . . .

that is until I get the finished product. 

I thought it appropriate to not leave you wondering about how

things ended up with my first quilt making experience.

  A few nights later I did take out my first seam,

took a few deep breaths, and was much more patient the second go round.

Although its not perfect, things started out and ended much better.

Now I must just cut off about a bucket full of strings

straighten out the edges

and decide on my backing fabric

and off to get finished and quilted it will go!

And I have decided that in my next life I want to be a photographer of unimportant meaningless things.  That way I could actually get paid for all of the time I waste on taking pictures of really nothing at all.  I mean seriously I probably wasted a half of an half an hour taking pictures of these pins . . . "pins for goodness sake!" 

welcome SPRING.

Spring is also referred to as

"Birthday Season" in the Alfultis home.  

We will all turn a year older before
Spring turns into Summer. 

Lots of celebrating to look forward too!

And here's to Miss "I" turning a big 10 months this weekend.

Just so you know . . .

you are taking 5 to 6 steps at a time now, but still prefer to crawl most of the time because you are darn fast.        you babble lots and try to repeat lots, but your most noticeable words are "dadda", "bubba" (brother), "bobba" (bottle), "momma".      you growl lots too.   you have 4-5 teeth that have broken through the gum's surface (all on top).      you wave (sometimes at yourself and sometimes at others).    you get especially excited when you are standing with no help.    you simply adore your brother and laugh at him even when he's sleeping - you think he is so silly.    you smile and laugh bunches and your whole face lights up when you do both or either.      you really only seem to get sad or mad when you are being put in your carseat or when your left out of the action.     you are and have been sleeping 8 - 10 hours a night for about a month and a half now (I think that you are finally starting to like sleep).     your favorite peeps (aside from brother, momma and dadda) are miss mary at daycare and your grandmas.    you like lots of foods and don't seem to have one favorite thing - well maybe cheerios.      you are the co-most specialist person in our lives right now and we thank God everyday for not just giving us one but two sugar sweet little people.  thank you God for entrusting these two little lives to us and granting us the pleasure of raising them and being their parents. 
what in the world are you thinking?! just kiddin!

a perfect ending.

It was that beyond perfect kind of "almost" Spring day today in Mid MO. 
The kind where everyone has their car window rolled down and an a
little extra bounce in their step.
(remember when we used to have to actually roll the car windows down?)

I wish that I could have spent the whole day basking in the wonderful sunlight. 

When I left work for lunch I seriously considered all of a sudden

coming down with the "warm day" flu, but resisted because I thought

my co workers might miss me too much ;0. 

However, I wasn't going to let the day get away without

at least an hour or two spent in the warm fresh air so the

"A" fam headed to the local drive-in in for some dogs and

dipped cones (I actually had an egg salad sandwich). 

It definitely made up for the daytime hours that I had to spend indoors.

Miss "I" even got to enjoy a few bites. 

When Bryan would bring a bite up past her mouth she would

make this funny whining-begging noise. 

So far she is a lover of all foods, but especially enjoys the

small portions of sweets we have given her thus far.

My last two posts have been about food that I haven't made -

that should tell you a little something about me. 

Actually, it is not that I don't enjoy cooking, it's

the preparation/ planning part that gets me. 

My hope is get better at this and SOON.

good cheer to you.

Forget the Corned Beef and Cabbage, this family eats cake! 

Good Cheer to you this St. Patrick's Day!

For small celebrations, we like to celebrate with small cakes

from the local grocer- Bryan and now Maddox's favorite. 

St. Pat's Day wasn't any exception to that "Alfultis family" rule. 

As you can see we celebrated a night early.

quilt making frustrations.

HAPPY. 

Squares laid out for a preview of the what could be.

STILL HAPPY. 

6 squares sewn together.

 NOT SO HAPPY. 

Two strips of 6 squares sewn together.  It's hard to tell just by looking at these pics,

but even with pinning, my squares are way off.  Debating on ripping the seam and starting over. 

However, I am scared that the next time will be no better than the first.  Oh well, what else can I do but try and say to myself "I will not make a mess of this so pretty fabric." :). 

No time to try again now.

Headed to my sister's for a small birthday gathering for

my niece Emily who turned 8 last Monday. 

These were painted with love by me (and Isla)

for her new room.

I hope she likes them. 

this is how we roll.

This is how we roll lately when I am at home.

We clean together,

we eat together,

we surf the net together,

we even paint together . . .

Miss "I's" nosey little self doesn't want to be put down. 

Pretty sure she is afraid she is going to miss something.  

Plus she is a severe busy body

(hmmmm, not for sure where she gets that from). 

Her attachment to my hip is sometimes cumbersome,

but my hopes are that she will always want to be this close to me. 

Excuse the hair, no work usually means no getting ready for me.

Something I get as giddy about as an extra day off.

And by the way if you haven't noticed, Isla wears this shirt alot.  I like the stripes and the red and it reminds me of Olivia (the pig).  When Olivia came on Nick Jr. yesterday she watched probably thinking to herself "that pigs got my shirt on".  I wish I could have gotten a picture of "I" sitting on the floor and Olivia on the screen in their matching duds. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"MADDOX-ISMS"

Maddox told me yesterday that he could not put his socks on. 

That his hands worked for computer and video games, but not for socks. 

The bad part is is that his socks were already on this far

and we continued to argue about socks and putting them on 

for at least 20 minutes.  And now I can't even remember if he

ended up pulling them on up or if I just gave in and did it :).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MADDOX (hollering into the kitchen as he sat at the table eating his "big" pancakes . . . he sometimes eats microwaveable mini pancakes so when I make pancakes he calls them big pancakes):  "momma do you know what planet I came off of."


ME (hollering back):  "no"


MADDOX (in a very serious tone):  "mars"


ME:  "hmm. interesting." (we'll see if i can get him to elaborate on this one of these days)

wish granted.

Just in case your not from around these parts . . .

my wish for fresh air has been granted.

Lots of love to Mother Nature.

the table {take 2} and some other things.

So I promised to tell you a little more about the new table and chairs . . .

oh how I love them so!

The chairs are these and I think they came from this website, but not sure anymore.  

And as for the table, it came from here  at the suggestion of my wonderful Mom -

who I still go to after 32 years when I need help with anything

(and obviously I mean anything) at all. 

I just wanted something

simple, sort of modern, and just a tad bit industrial-looking

without paying alot of smackers. 

I have to say I am so in love with the table/ bench combo and

the white chairs are just the cherry on top. 

And honestly, I am just so smitten with the fact that it's mine and that

I got to pick it out (our first dining room table was a hand me down

from my sister that I painted- which I was so grateful for,

but it is so nice to have something all your own).

I can't wait to show you more pics of the dining room
as a whole once I get it how I want it.  As for right now I am just
happy to have the central point of our home back into working order again. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

A couple before and afters of odds and ends. 

I have obviously been spending my down time lately avoiding things

that I really should be doing with unimportant unplanned projects.

The free mailbox before and after.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 
 
The clock that I was just tired of looking at the way it was and it is hung in the kiddos play area so I wanted something a little less sophisticated.  Not for sure if I like the after any better than the before but the after is definitely a better fit for now.
 
 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

And I don't have the before, but here's the after.  It was time for a little sprucing up of the play area mentioned above.  The bright colored curtain (covering up some of the too many toys we have around this house) just makes me so happy when I look at it.

 

And just one more thing I can't resist sharing with you . . .

Isla's 2 teeth. 

The front one in the middle is HUUUUUUUGE!

table.

The Alfultis family can finally eat like civilized human beings again.

*
YoU and you & yOu n' you, please meet our new dining room table :).

Promise to tell you more about it

(and a few other things- including a couple before and afters)

tomorrow. 

*
Hope your having a HaPpY wEeKeNd!