It's that time of year again--Camping!

Well hello there!  It's been a little while...but life as you know has been busy!  May always seems to be a very busy month for us and it certainly hasn't disappointed!  

We celebrated Nathan and Ryan's 7th birthday party at the local YMCA with Joy (Kris's sister)here from Kansas.  She was able to see firsthand how "busy" and at times inseperable (literally and figuratively) they can be.  It seems these days wrestling has taken on a new level in our house and everything needs to be exactly equal! We had about 17 kids total from school show up to play sports and sing Happy Birthday.  

 Kris took a quick trip back to Wisconsin to take care of our home and plans for Door County building.  I celebrated Mother's Day with the boys with an early morning breakfast, church, and time together playing soccer and games.  

We ended the month of May gearing up for.... camping!!  That's right, It's that time of year again! It definitely is not for the faint of heart as it requires alot of P's--planning, preparing, and packing!  This year we seem to have somehwat of a system down.  Kris is the master planner (he is a logistician full time in the Army) so planning, planning, planning it is.  And I can jokingly say he also has all of his "bags" down to a science.  That's right...we have a "bag" for everything as they all serve a purpose (or so he says). Starting with sleeping arrangements:

1) Bag with sheets/pillowcases/towels washed and stored together (and might I add immediately after washing, they are dried, folded and returned to the "bags"

2) Kitchen items (crates filled with seasonings, storable goods)

3) RTIC cooler for drinks/easy access outside

4) Bins for the boys clothes to store under their bed and a hanging organizer in the closet to easily access their clothing (since they change clothes multiple times a day!)

5) Our bags-one for me, one for him water proof and heavy duty

5) Meal prep-lots of munchies for the boys as swimming always makes them starved!  Amanda-premade salads, veggies in quick baggies, pre-made shakes, coffee into daily baggies for quick use.

6) Meals planned out for the week--no extra trips!

7)Toys/beach gear--all stored in specific storage areas and you guessed it their own "bag" or bin

8) Gym/workout items-yes, we get exercise in nature with hiking or swimming.  For those wanting extra workouts..uh hum uh hum... always always 1-2 workout outfits with running watch, ipod, and running shoes.  You can always squeeze in a quick 1-2 mile run or if you are like me, you will do pull ups or attempt to do muscle ups on the playground equipment while the kids play Plus, you can explore a bit on your own!  I have seen some amazing sunrises and sunsets along the beach alone.  

Do we sound nuts yet?? I think so!  This past Memorial Day weekend we left on Thursday night with everything packed and ready to go before work.  Yes, we were packed before Kris and I went to work for the day!  We came home, ate, and hopped in the car.

 Traffic down and around Philadelphia was bumper to bumper with alot of delays.  But, once we turned South Philadelphia, the remainder of the drive to Elk Neck, Maryland was smooth sailing.  We literally had the campground to ourselves as no one was there!  It was very relaxing to wake up Friday morning and have no neighbors and peace and quiet!  We listened to the radio during the day describing all of the traffic "jams" in and around Philadelphia and were thankful we weren't in it!  Yes! 

 We spent the day hanging around the campground, some time at the beach or what it really is, the Chesapeake Bay.  The first day there, it was cold and very windy, but we stayed there all afternoon (the boys are never cold?!)  then went out to eat at a Crab Shack!  Kris needed to get some Maryland crab and fried chicken since we were there!  We had a campfire with smores and the boys met some nice friends next door.  On Saturday, we spent most of the morning at the beach again as we knew it was supposed to rain the rest of the day.  We were able to hang out in our nice and dry camper :) reading, while the boys played out in the rain with the neighbor kids and also napped.  It dried up a little bit that evening to have another campfire and spend time outdoors.  On Sunday, we spent almost all day at the "beach" relaxing on the Chesapeake Bay and playing in the water.  The boys are at a nice age to easily find friends and dig holes and "drainage systems" along the beach.  Very important work I might add. I took our new Oru kayak out a few times to spend some time on the water.  

Evenings seemed to come around quickly and we were always eager to get a fire started and sit around and watch the crackling and magic of the fire. Camping and swimming wears those boys out (and us too) so we all seem to sleep well at night!!

Ryan resting for a moment, enjoying a snack.

Please, one family picture!  The sun is bright!

Nathan and his snorkeling gear!

We got up early Monday morning, packed what needed to be packed up and were home by noon.  Way before any awful traffic and enough time to do mountains of laundry and prepare for the week.  It was a nice Memorial Day weekend together and on to more adventures!!

Is this goodbye?

As a family, we've recently all been on the move.  About two weeks ago, we returned from a planned spring break to Colorado.  A much needed trip as I was on the brink of burn out with my work.  Commuting two hours a day, seeing patients back to back for eight to nine hours straight without a break, then rushing home to start dinner, get kids to sports, and so on was wearing me out.  Colorado was a nice change of pace in that Kris and I were able to spend two days together (sans kids).  We went hiking, did a lot of walking, and talking.  The weather was beautiful and we were able to later bring the children to the mountains and create memories with them and family. My return to work went smoothly and I was feeling refreshed.

About one week later, was my next trip.  I recently found out my my last living grandparent--my grandfather at the amazing age of 95, wasn't "doing very well."  This can be difficult to translate to my medical brain.  What exactly does that mean?  I heard words such as "possible mini stroke" and "difficulty seeing" and "can't walk due to weakness," but no other diagnosis.  It was frustrating to be almost 1000 miles away and have limited information.  I haven't been home for over a year now.  Nathan and Ryan haven't been back for two years.  Between two sets of divorced parents, you have to split things up.  There are places you also want to go as a family and friends you want to spend time with, so it gets complicated.  Sometimes people travel to visit you, so you aren't always running back home for every holiday. So, this is what was happening during that time span. This year was the first year I have flown anywhere with the boys and they are almost 7!  That tells you how often we are flying places as a family.  But, to get back to the point--I decided to return home on a whim and see my grandfather, not knowing what I was going to face.  I knew I would also want to see my family, but my time was very limited.  Two and a half days was all I had.  I found cheap tickets on Frontier and booked the flights.  I felt selfish leaving work again as I just took off a week from work, but this was needed. I also found out last minute Kristofer would also be travelling during the same week (but to Hawaii), so this meant Nathan and Ryan were coming with me.  I think also a blessing in disguise for them to return home with me.  I packed and planned our short trip with minimal luggage below.

I drove to the airport and parked the car in the economy lot.  I grabbed the bags and the boys and I waited at the bus stop to catch the bus.  We arrived at the airport and sailed through the screening process, flight was scheduled on time.  Almost immediately after checking in, I was notified our flight was delayed......5 hours!  There was a planned BBQ at home upon our arrival and now this was changing everything!!  My two and a half day trip home just got shortened.  Frustrated, upset, angry-so many emotions flowing and I had zero control.  What exactly do you do with two six year olds for 5 hours?  Well, I thought a good first choice would be to go to the USO (for military) so we walked from Terminal E to A.  If you have never been in the Philadelphia airport before, this was very very, did I say very, far away.  I hauled all of our luggage and the boys started complaining mid way to our destination.  We arrived at USO and learned it had been flooded with raw sewage so we were forced to enter a makeshift storage room with nothing comfortable in it. So, we had a quick lunch and took the shuttle bus back to our terminal (yes, that is how far it was a shuttle was needed).  The remainder of the time, we walked around, there was an indoor playground for kids, we videod each other and I allowed them to play video games and crosswords on their tablets.  Did they wrestle and fight in the airport.  Yes.  Did they push each other and misbehave. Yes.  Did we survive. Of course.

This was about 3/4 of the way through the 5 hours.  Starting to get antsy.

Finally, our flight was ready.  We arrived in Milwaukee and my brother, Chuck, picked us up and took us home.  The following day would be tough.

We arrived in Waupun, Wisconsin, early morning to make the most of the day.  After hearing the words, "not doing well", I learned my grandfather was placed on hospice (end of life care) in his home.  I have so many wonderful memories of my grandparents I didn't want to not be able to say goodbye as it has been so long.  Would he still be with us with my next trip to Wisconsin in August?  Possibly, but I didn't want to risk it. I took this opportunity to just "be" with him despite his failing eyesight and hearing. I've learned in medicine that sometimes being together isn't about conversation or doing something, but just being there.  So, that was my plan for the day.  I learned he got up at 3AM to get dressed for the day due to not being able to sleep and coughing.  He was already exhausted at 8AM.  I let him nap intermittently during the visit while memories flooded me.  The farmhouse he lives in was the same one he was born in.  It was the same house that I have known over my 36 years of life no matter where I have lived in the United States.  Memories of my childhood summers are here.  Of family get togethers and of my late grandmother.  I remember when the farm was operational with cows and busy tractors.  I remember jumping on top of the hay bails in the barn (which we weren't supposed to be doing as you could fall and get injured).  I remember sneaking around the corner to watch my grandfather chop off chicken heads on an old tree stump.  I remember running into the tall corn stalks and out to the forest where I would find old gun shells from the hunters.  I remember roosters crowing in the morning waking me up or the smell of breakfast cooking and moving up the stairs as I would wake from sleep.   I remember going out to the garden and picking raspberries and blackberries and eating more than I could save.  I remember having to chop up green beans and freeze them and doing cartwheels on a newly cut lawn.  So many childhood memories here, central to the core of who I am today.  It is sad and emotional, but it is also beautiful.  My grandfather being able to remain in the home with all of his grown children supporting him, taking care of him, cooking for him, and loving him in an unconditional manner is very beautiful to watch.  That is how the dying process should be.  Some people don't like to say end of life or hospice or dying.  But, this is what it is and it should be celebrated. Yes, it is sad and my heart aches, but you also see how life changes as you age. Patients tell me all the time, "don't ever get old" and I believe them as I see changes in myself and others.  Life changes as you  age as you see the loss of so many functions and limitations by pain, immobility, and disability life is not nearly as complete as it once was.  You see the loss of spouses, friends, and loved ones and now you are the last one of your generation left.  You see family moving on and you have stayed, but you see life and have lived to its fullest.  That is a remarkable thing.  Life as a full circle.

  I took some pictures to capture our trip and also to always remember his home, my home, whenever I came home.

I love these pictures of the boys because they are playing with the same legos and farm set I played with so many years ago.  All of the grandchildren and great grandchildren have played with these same toys probably in the same spots!

The boys went on a "Ranger" ride with one of my grandfather's friends through the fields back to his hunting shack on the property.

 My grandparent's home.  The same house my grandfather was born in, he lives in today.  My mother grew up in this home and they farmed the land you see below.  Hasn't changed a bit and I love that about this place.  The field before the fence here is their garden.  A huge garden with raspberries, strawberries, so many veggies, cherry trees and apple trees too!

Me and my 95 year old grandfather, Irvan.

I love this picture.   A spring day, about 70 degrees out and my grandfather is bundled up and sitting outside.  He loves the outdoors.  My uncle built him a ramp to be able to go in and out of his house to spend time outdoors.  I sat with him over an hour outside while he watched my cousin mow his lawn for him.  Something he loved to do and still would if he could.  He just bought a brand new lawnmower he was hoping to get on the day I was there!

So, is this goodbye?  I don't know.  I don't want it to be goodbye, but I want peace for my grandfather.  I feel grateful to him and my grandmother for teaching me so much over the years and being a part of my life.  I am happy my children know of "great grandpa on the farm" and he was able to meet them like my grandmother was before she passed.  It was a short trip, but one no matter the airplane delays was worth it to have a few minutes, few hours to be together again.  The boys were troopers hanging on for some long days filling in family and travel time.  We will be back to Wisconsin again soon over the summer and I hope this isn't goodbye, but hello. 

Scheduling summer

Planning summer….  Trying to figure things out with both of us working full time and military obligations can get interesting. 

At the beginning of the year, we start throwing ideas and dates around for the summer.  As we are still relatively new to the East coast, we realize there are still so many places to go and things to do in the time we are here.  So, the planning starts early. A lot of research goes into travel time, things to do, and reviews.  We learned our lesson last year staying overnight in a campground outside of Hartford, Connecticut, in which we felt like we were in the movie Deliverance.  Lesson learned!! But, back to the beginning with planning… How do we figure things out? Here’s a little background information. The first summer we were in Pennsylvania, we did a lot of day trips travelling two hours to and from the beach for the day.  You might think this is a bit much, but it gets HOT here in the summer and well, no one is around.  We needed something to do. We picked random locations along the coast trying to pick up any information from the locals that we could to try and see would fit us best.  I would overhear one of the neighbors say they went to “Wildwood” or “Ocean City” and return back home to look it up and we would go there.  Our neighborhood vanishes in the summer as so many have family beach homes. You might ask, well, why wouldn’t you just stay overnight in a hotel if you were spending so much time at the beach on the weekends.  Well, hotels here are quite different in these beach towns.  In the summer, hotel beaches are usually about $300+/night.  They are not nice, clean chain hotels...think mom and pop, 1980's hotels with cheesy gold fixtures, retro furniture, and tacky wallpaper.  Now I don’t need a fancy hotel, but it is seriously like stepping back into time with the extra cost. Add in kids that want to play trucks on the floor, you might think twice about staying in one of these.  We tried every beach town up and down the coast between New Jersey and Delaware, trying to find a place we enjoyed.  We thought the day driving was getting a bit much and wanted to continue spending time on the beach, so we thought of ways to work around hotel costs.  We tried camping in a tent.  I quickly learned that I did not enjoy the lack of creature comforts and amount of work involved in planning these trips after a busy week at work.  So, that wasn’t going to work.  But, we discovered there were a lot of camping areas near the beaches on these trips.  Kris started looking into travel trailers…. Need I say more. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we would be owners of one of these.  But, Kris punched the numbers and quickly learned that if we camped at least 14 nights per year, it would be cheaper than staying in a hotel. So, last summer we ended up purchasing a 21 foot travel trailer that included a slide out king size bed, bunk beds, full kitchen, and bathroom/shower.  We camped 24 nights total last year, visited multiple cities, states, and beaches, and even made the 8+ hour trip up to Arcadia National Park in Maine. 

So, why the lengthy explanation? Well, to make it back to my opening statement, of summers take a lot of planning and coordination for us. Over the years, we have grown to enjoy long weekends and also the day after a long holiday off. So, when starting out summer planning, we look at planning one big trip for the summer like most families.  This is our starting point.  We decide where we will spend this trip whether somewhere new or deciding between the families who, where, how, etc for the trip. We also look at weekends and places we’ve enjoyed and want to return or again do the research to plan on length of drive and reviews.  Being centrally located to most major cities on the East coast is a huge advantage.  We can get to New York City, Baltimore, and Washington DC all within 2-3 hours.  There is so much in between! We also look at summer camps for the boys as we both work full time and have selected the local city camp as the best price and fit for them with several children from their school attending as well.  In the end, Kris does the majority of the research figuring out the exact locations we will go and books them months out as they tend to fill rather quickly! We try to include educational opportunities with museums and other history lessons for the boys. So, figuring out weekends to travel, kids summer camp, Kris’s mandatory one weekend per month military training, my running races or Crossfit competitions can get crazy.  Don’t forget time at the local pool for swimming and finishing up baseball through June, our summers fill fast.  Seems a bit chaotic and unrelaxing, but in the end the schedule allows us to plan accordingly and give us control in knowing what is ahead.  Summer shouldn’t be so scheduled, but in order to travel and be able to do the things we all want to do, requires a bit of planning and prep work, but in the end it is all worth it!

Working out during the workweek

How do you have time to work out? Especially during the work week? A very common question I get when talking to others. It's usually not a hard question to answer, but by the time I explain it...it can take a while. As you can guess...well, it's complicated. Working out for me is not a chore. It's something I LOVE to do. It is MY time and I love the way it makes me feel during and after the workout. If I hated it, well, I wouldn't do it. For me, it's hard to understand how people DON'T work out. When I hear excuses like, "I don't have time," "I am too tired after work,""I'm too busy with my kids," "I can't miss my favorite ____ fill in the blank (show/sports game/Netflix series)" it just informs me with the obvious--it's not a priority in their life. It's amazing what people WILL find the time in their lives to do, but provide every reason why working out is not one of them. Just silly. So, if those are your excuses, then of course you are always going to see the same results.

So, back to the question--how do I have time to work out. Well, I don't. But, I always find the time. It means I must sacrifice something else to do so. Eventually, it just becomes routine. As above, I can't imagine my life without working out because it's just part of my day. Like waking up and going to bed, working out always falls somewhere in the middle. I work full time--5 days a week. As my job is over an hour away, this means I get up at 5:30 AM and out the door by 6:30 AM to drive 15 minutes to the train station. From there, I ride an "Express" train to Philadelphia, which is about 35 minutes. I get to work at 7:30 AM and start from there.

I respond to emails, finish up on charting from the day before. My first patient comes at 8AM and I work until 4 PM. Some days I get a lunch, others, I "inhale" my lunch in between patients, barely getting time to pee. I go from room to room, back to back patients. I leave work by 4PM to rush back two blocks to the train station to catch the 4:23PM train to get home. I arrive back at the parking lot at 5PM and drive back home. Sitting on the train in the afternoons my eyes get heavy and I wish I could fall asleep, but I don't. Because I feel like missing my stop would be even worse, so I just keep going. After hopping in my car once at the train station, I might have to pick up the boys. But, usually Kris is able to get them and start supper. Where would I be without a man who knew and actually enjoyed cooking! I am lucky to say the least. Once "mom" enters the door, it seems my next shift starts. The shift I want to start begins in moving into homework, making lunches, baths, prayers, wrapping up the night with the family. The boys get to bed by 7:30-8PM. Some nights I still have work to finish, but that usually has to wait. I can do that before bed, right. Because I choose to work out next at home or our local gym. It's either a weight lifting or a cardio day. I know what I will be doing before the time comes as I plan this out on my train ride home. I keep a running log of my max weights and work off of them using my lifting schedule. Some nights I am exhausted by this point. I would rather just go right to bed when the kids go to bed. But, I don't. I make myself either use our garage weightlifting gym (yes, even when freezing outside, I turn a heater on) or go down to our basement and run on the treadmill. Once I get going in either activity, I am usually fine and awake again. I usually work out for an hour 5-6 days per week. (And have to coordinate who is working out where and when with Kris since he works out just as much as I do :)

Now, if I plan on going to a Crossfit class (for those not familiar, it's a combination of weightlifting, gymnastics, high intensity interval training and cardio), I have to adjust my schedule even more and plan accordingly. Sometimes I will go to a 6AM weekday class, which means I must get up at 5AM and have everything packed and ready the night before. Because after class, I then drive an hour to Philadelphia. No, this is not a smooth, relaxing drive. This is white knuckle driving for 60 minutes straight stopping/going, driving down narrow, old roads and being cut off. AGGRESSIVE driving is the only way to describe it. A sea of cars, accidents, it is nuts. So, thanking God I make it to work this way, I start work and go- go-go until I'm done and pray I escape rush hour traffic on the way home. If I feel like I just can't muster enough energy to do one of these crazy days, I will then decide just to workout on my own at home early in the morning getting up at 5AM to get a quick run in. Whatever is needed based on the workweek. Now, if I want to attend a Crossfit class in the evening, I will drive straight from the train station to the gym to catch the 5 or 6PM class depending on my workday. This means I miss supper with my family. Kris will have to do supper alone and get the boys ready for bed and have homework done. It is definitely clear communication with how this will be done and a family sacrifice. We try to eat family dinners together as it is important to us. I never do this more than once or twice during the week.

On the weekends, working out is easy as we generally go to the gym as a family on Saturday and Sundays. Kris and I will work out together first, then we will pick the boys up and play basketball, run on the track, or go swimming.

So, this probably sounds crazy to some, but this is how I make it work. It never gets any easier to wake at 5AM to work out, but I do it. I push through it, drink my coffee and go to bed early at night. I have to constantly work at a healthy lifestyle. It may seem crazy, but this actually keeps my sanity.  Cheaper than any therapy and something we as a family can do together.  If you really want something you will go after it. If you don't, well then you won't. You are stuck with the same results.

Weekend routine

Weekends are a nice break from the busy workweek....but in this house, still maintain routine. Friday afternoons, Kris usually picks the boys up early from their afterschool care and together they play outdoors, run to their favorite toys, or maybe down the street to their friend's house. I try to rush home as well, hoping the trains are on time, which usually by surprise, are on time. Friday night we go out to eat at one of our favorite spots--(Iron Hill Brewery or the Metropolitan). Both family friendly places to eat where kids even get dessert with their meals for a reasonable price. If going out seems like a chore and we are exhausted, we rely on our favorite pizza place (Montgomery Pizza) with the usual salad, garlic knots, and pizza. After a family meal together we all unwind with a movie. Friday night=Movie night. Kids shower and get in their jammies, I pull out my lap top and finish my work for the day next to them on the couch. Bedtime is consistently 8PM for Nathan and Ryan and they brush their teeth, say prayers, and hop in to bed. Kris and I usually have our movie night as well and a cocktail, if needed!!

On Saturdays, we sleep in to 730-8A. Yes, this is sleeping in, in this house! Coffee and breakfast. We can find the boys watching some cartoons in the living room on the couch. We get ourselves together while planning out our day. There is always a plan in this house! GYM TIME is next. Either I go to a class at Cross Fit Generation (my box for Crossfit) or we go as a family to the local YMCA. The boys go to the kids center where they get to play games, color, and there are always different activities they can participate in. Kris and I head to the weights and start weightlifting together. This lasts for about an hour, hour and a half before we grab the boys and either move on to the basketball courts, upstairs track, or swimming pools. This can certainly vary if they have sports that day, as we won't keep them there long and spend a longer Sunday day there instead. If we believe in exercise and a healthy lifestyle, we should be working with our boys as well. So, we shoot hoops, practice dribbling/passing the ball. This can be painful at times if one is wanting the ball or failing at basketball shots. But, we push through. Nathan and Ryan love running laps upstairs on the track and challenge us to running races constantly!! Trust me, you don't want to beat them, but sometimes you just have to :) In the pool, we let them do their thing as they are both good swimmers. We at times end up playing catch in the pool for a while, with the occasional close call of smacking some other innocent swimmer.

Coming home we are all hungry and have lunch. The boys end up playing with their toys inside or their neighborhood friends. I spend the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up from the work week with vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, laundry. Did I say laundry? Seems unending...but then again there is only four of us! The boys at times will be helpful with chores as well. I can usually convince one of them to vacuum upstairs (and sometimes they fight about it and we have to break it up). If Kris is doing outside chores with any man tools or yard work, they are "eager beavers" to get out and help. They love raking leaves, shoveling snow, or getting an opportunity to watch some "man project" being done outside. But, in the end, any mention of going to a friends' house will be an excellent motivator to get any wanted job done immediately :)

Lately, they have had basketball practices in the evenings, so Kris and I sit back and watch them play. It's nice to see the progression with barely knowing how to dribble to understanding how to pass, get their hands up and make some shots! Saturday evenings are typically pretty low key with a nice meal and perhaps a show or movie together.

Sundays are definitely a day of rest in the mornings. We (I mean Kris and I) try to sleep in with peace and quiet. Something I think we have earned in six and a half years with babies, then toddlers up alot of the night and early morning risers--some times as early as 5 or 530. Coffee, a nice big breakfast together with pancakes or waffles and fruit are a central point of our Sunday mornings. Late morning church is next and no rushing to get there as it's right across the street from us. Remainder of our Sundays are tying up loose ends with meal prepping for a nice Sunday meal or now weekly lunch meals. That's right. On Sundays, I prepare a large batch of oatmeal for my breakfast for the week. Kris is in charge of our lunches in which he meal preps with a protein, veggies, and small portion carb.

Snacks are packed for the week for the boys and their lunch made up the night before as mornings are too crazy here. The rest of the Sunday afternoons are either gym time or outdoor time. We've been pretty lucky here with reasonable weather even through the winter months with mild cooler temps. Playing soccer together as a family, catch or even tennis. Sometimes we let them loose at one of the large playground near us and go for long walks together. I think we are fairly active with our kids. Boys have lots of energy and we believe in ways in channeling that energy and preventing them from wrestling and fighting. I grew up in Southern Florida, so being outside constantly as a child is what I remember and doesn't seem too strange to me. So, in the end, this has been our "regular" weekends and what we know as normal. For some, it may be extreme and others, may seem pretty relaxed. But this won't last forever as the upcoming warmer months will bring a definite change of pace as we will begin our weekend adventures away with our camper and trips to the beach. I look forward to bringing you along to share these moments with you !

A new beginning

You may be thinking, another blog? I've stopped and started so many times. But, what can I say--I am relentless. I started writing my first blog about six years ago soon after Nathan and Ryan were born. It served as a good form of communication when the boys were so little, as I struggled with keeping family up to date on their early arrival and progress as preemies. You may remember they were born prematurely at 29 weeks and spent about three months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a rough pregnancy for me being on bed rest. I had just completed graduate school, ran my first marathon, started a new career, and was pregnant with twins at the age of 30. I wasn't used to lying in bed all day, so I planned for things I would do once they were born and make a commitment to myself that I would always try to make the most of life. Nathan and Ryan came home from the hospital and I started to document and take pictures of our twin journey. The blog started off as, "Ryan and Nathan's page." I did well for a while, keeping things up to date, then time seemed to sneak by and I didn't stick with it. My second blog was named, "Momfriends" in which the stress of raising twins, a travelling husband, and full time job seemed to catch up with me. It was perhaps more of a "venting experience" than anything else. My third attempt at a blog was named, "She said, She thought, She wrote" trying to capture a bit of my days working, perspective on life, and train rides to the city. It too ended as I didn't feel I had the right material and really needed more of a focus..... After reflecting on all of these blogs, I've come full circle and am starting where I left things off....in the beginning. My life. Our life. As just the 4 of us. I realized we have a lot to share and say and hope we can bring you along our crazy ride of a life. It will hopefully be entertaining and I welcome any feedback! Here's to another round of blogging, because I really do enjoy it. I just need a little encouragement to keep me going and not give up.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This year marks my second year of being "green" and sending our Christmas letter via the blogger! Fun! And I guess I don't have to share the entire year as..... you can refer back to previous blogs to get an update. Even better! Well, guess that's all I need to share. Just kidding! On Thanksgiving, we travelled to Waupun, Wisconsin to share the day with Grandma Susan and Great Grandpa Irv at my Aunt Kathy's home. The boys missed their nap and were a tad hyper, so Kris and I became creative and alternated shifts between who could visit or eat and who was entertaining the boys. Thank goodness for the mild weather as we were IN/OUT of their house constantly throughout the afternoon. The boys were able to play with their cousins as you can see below!