Yo Ho Ho I need a bottle of Rum

Well, we are halfway through our first Christmas where the kids actually realize everything about Santa, presents, good food and high alcohol content beverages. We slept in an extra hour this morning until 5:30, got out of bed and took showers to prepare us for the rest of the day. Or did we take showers because Diane had a bad case of stink toe, not really sure. We headed downstairs to see what Santa brought. The stockings were no longer hung by the chimney with care, they were now sitting on the coffee table because there was too much stuff and they were too heavy. Underneath the tree was overflowing with presents. The reason for this will have to fall on the Curnes family. There were more presents from them than everyone else combined. I'm thinkin Sharon went on one of her no taste beer binges (she likes to drink Michelob Ultra, ick), and forgot that she already sent two boxes of stuff to turn around and send two more.

The kids were running around like terrors, not listening, throwing stuff, wrestling each other, stealing each others presents, pushing each others buttons, so same as any other day. They settled down to actually eat some breakfast and lunch though. Wes climbed up onto the countertop so he could get a piece of chocolate off the bar. Went down for nap around noon and sat up there chit chatting for half hour before I sent the boss up to take care of bizness...and here we are...bloggin' it.

Wanted to thank my mom for the box of dirt. It seems that whenever diane says she wants something, my mom tends to get it as a present for both of us. Still refusing to let diane have the pink pair of slippers I got for my last birthday...(just kidding, they were red with flowers on em.) lol. She actually got us a fancy tomato planter kit, included dirt....never have had any luck growing decent tomatoes out here, will be nice if this thingamajimmydoohickeytomatogrowy device works. Sad when you have to have good tomatoes imported in from MO. Ok, my mom didnt really get me slippers for my bday....it was a pair of earrings.

Also thanks to everyone for all the presents, cards, gift cards and sanity checks. We are all doing great and having a nice holiday season.

For those of you that dont know, I was able to find a job and will be starting Jan 10. Oh yeah, you might not have heard, URS more or less told me to go home and not come back unless I had billable work to charge to about three weeks ago. It was a nice thank you for almost 13 years of hard work, especially around Christmas....dont let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Such friendly folks they are....well actually, some of them actually are.

Ok, Ok, Ok, my mom didnt get earrings for my bday this year. It was something I could use...Such a sweet mother. My very favorite mother.

Getting ready for bbq season coming up....dehydrating some habenero and jalapeno peppers as we speak...working on 2.5 lbs of the green ones and half pound of the orange ones. Once they are dry I will grind them up into a powder and now be able to spice things up around here.

We got a new video camera for Christmas. We should be able to post some vids once I get it all figured out. Gotta go better than Diane and her webcam this morning. Spent half an hour trying to figure out why she couldnt connect with her friend Deni. Turns out she started the wrong program or something...but finally got it up and running...then Charlie says I just see some fat guy there.....I turned around thinking Santa was behind me. He must have just left....

Gosh, what else is new around here...had a new pigeon house built on the roof of the house. It is actually solar panels, but the pigeons have decided to make it their new home. Gonna put a scope on my pellet gun so I quit missing them damn things. Driveway is covered in their crap. Used to not miss from the back deck, cant hit them for anything yesterday.

And to Grandma Gondira, your grandchildren are wondering why you arent talking to them. Life is too short to hold grudges, and besides, what did they do to you. Small minds, small minds and I'm not talking about the kids either. If you sit and think about what you are doing, I can guarantee that you will regret it later in life. You only have one real family, it is a shame you are throwing it all away.




Wes and his twin American Girl boy doll. No, the clothes didnt stay on long. Gotta see what is under there. He says thank you Grandma T.

















Mom combed Mia's hair before she headed downstairs for the morning...is that a Christmas to be had or what? Looks like a little Christmas Troll. Be glad she still has her pants on cuz they werent for long after this pic was taken.








Mia in her dressup clothes she got from us. The ceptor is no more though, took one wack on the table from Wes to destroy it.


















Picture with Santa. Wes wouldnt sit on his lap and we were lucky to get him to stand next to him. They both wanted clothes from him. Kept on asking, where are the reindeer....mmm taste like chicken.

Cupcakes

The Twins Turn '3'

Well, it's hard to believe another year has gone by and Wes and Mia are now offiacially 3 years old. A couple of weeks ago it dawned on me that it might be fun to throw their first real birthday party as they have gotten really excited to go to other people's birthday parties. I wasn't sure if we would have enough people in town as their birthday falls so close to Thanksgiving, but we had a great turn out and it was a really good time. Chris set up a bounce house for the kids in our garage......yes Blocher's, it's your bounce house we used, we are still interested in purchasing it in case you might have changed your mind - hint hint! I set up some crafts at the dining room table, we had lots of balloons, and oh yes, some fabulous cupcakes. I decided to try my hand at some really awsome animal cupcakes from this cool cupcake book I got while Chris' parents were out visiting. Anyways, I think they turned out pretty good, see pics below. Wes and Mia then took a nap after their party and we met our friends the Neutzel's for pizza and a trip to the zoo lights. The lights were great, and I think the twins had a good time....they were pretty tired from the party. All in all a spectacular birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Tepen Come for a Visit

At the beginning of November, Grandma and Grandpa Tepen came for a visit. They came bearing a couple of new books, which Wes insisted on reading immediately. Grandpa indulged Wes and Mia in the books first reading.......they were very happy, see pic below. One of the books had a button on the front that used to play the wheels on the bus go round and round song. While the book was still in excellant shape, the button no longer played the song. Chris told Wes and Mia that Uncle David broke the book. Fast forward 3 weeks and Uncle David called Chris to see how things were going. As soon as Wes and Mia realized it was Uncle David, they said "thanks for breaking our book Uncle David!" Poor Uncle David get s blamed for many thing around our house....sorry Uncle David :)

Grandma Tepen also brought out a special present for Mia. She gave her a locket that she used to wear as a young lady. Grandma helped Mia try on her new bling and Mia was as proud as a peacock. We will save the locket for special occasions until Mia gets a little bigger. She likes to have me show it to her regularly as she is always thinking of reasons that it might be ok for her to wear it. Thanks for the lovely gift Grandma Tepen :)

Also while Grandma and Grandpa were out for their visit, I had arranged for my friend Reynee to snap some family pictures for us. We got a lot of really great ones, here is one of all of us that turned out pretty good....

Happy Halloween

So our Halloween festivities kicked off on Friday with the kids having a celebration at school. They had a party and dressed up with all their schoolmates. We sent them in some play costumes (a cat and an elefant) as we were needed their real costumes to stay nice for a party on Saturday evening. They had fun dressing up at school - see pic below.

Satuday, we carved pumpkins and hit a super cool Halloween party at our friend's the Nuetzel's. Wes and Mia played with lots of other kids and got to paint a pumpkin. The pumpkin actually looked scary when they were finished because they had mixed so many colors together that the pumpkin was black/green......very Halloween looking. Chris and I went as Fred and Wilma Flintstone, and Wes and Mia were frankenstein and a witch. A good time was had by all.

Today, we are hoping to pass out some candy to the neighbor kids. Wes is feeling a little under the weather today, so we will have to wait and see about the trick or treating for him tonight. Hope everyone is having a fun weekend too - Happy Halloween.

Wasssssuppppppp

What happened to summer....looking out the window today, it is still here. Last year at this time we already had snow....today we hit 93 and broke out the water slide after work. Our neighbor kid Blake came over for a little fun. The water slide was a great purchase and they got lots of great use out of it.

The kids are amost 3 years old. Potty training is pretty much finished at our house. Havent had an accident in 2 weeks. We only use diapers when the kids go to sleep at night. Wes always wakes up with a dry diaper and goes to the potty right away. We will probably switch him to full time undies this weekend. Mia wakes up, or more likely doesnt feel like using the potty when laying there in the morning, with a wet diaper about every third day. It went pretty easy, especially once they started daycare with the 3 year olds about a month ago. Now if we can just figure out how to stop the tantrums....I'm thinking that....hell I'm done thinking for this year....

Just yesterday the kids and I were out on the deck playing catch with the ball and kicking it around the backyard. After a while we stopped and went back onto the deck. Wes decides he has to pee. We've been working on trying to get him to pee standing up. So, he decides to give it a shot...takes down his pants, walks over to the doggie water bowl and proceeds to fill er up. I was like....at least he didnt crap in it. Playing a game of monkey see monkey doo, Mia decides she has to potty too. Knowing she isnt supposed to pee in the water bowl, she heads on down to the grass....tries peeing standing up and when realizes that doesnt work very well, because her legs are all wet now, she squats down and finishes....i'm telling you, too much of that gondira gene in those kids starting to come out....

Diane's good friend Suzanne came over this past weekend bearing presents for the kids. Wes got a garbage truck that make all kinds of noises and actually empties a garbage can with the press of a lever. He loved it and hasnt stopped playing with it since he got it. Mia and Wes always say the trashman takes out the stinky diapers....not sure what we are going to do with all our trash now that they arent coming to our house anymore since we dont have stinky diapers. Mia got a new doll to play with and it came with a crib and stroller. Wes promptly broke the stroller by sitting in it. That night when it was time for bed, Mia took her old doll that was sitting on her bed, threw it out the door into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

Wes got his first bee sting today at daycare. He was a real trooper and only cried for around 10 minutes. There is only a little welt on the backside of his knee left.

Speaking of bees, last weekend we had a bee swarm in our backyard. There were probably a couple of hundred bees just flying around our deck. Not sure why or what they were looking for, i'm positive they must have smelled Diane...cuz bees love her and are attracted to her. She is the only person I know that can get stung standing in the aisle of Home Depot at 7 in the morning...true story, it really did happen....stung her on the boob....flew right down the front of her tee shirt. Teased her that she had 3 boobs for a while....but I digress. We were planning on going outside to play on the waterslide. I went out armed with 1 full can of bee spray and another fogger of insect/bee repellant....emptied them both, didnt get stung, and wittled the swarm down to a couple of dozen...maybe someone knows...why are bees attracted to ash trees? We have 3 of them in our yard, all of them constantly have bees and wasps flying around them.

Kids are doing great. Growing like weeds still. Talking up a storm....learning like crazy....moved into the 3 room at school 3 months early. They actually bring home homework every weekend. Cant believe that they have to do school on weekends already...last weekend was a mom's questionaire to fill out about the classroom and the activities they are doing and the bulletin boards, didnt get done....i read the front page and didnt know a single answer and gave up....pretty sure diane did the same thing because it still sits without the blanks filled in.

Feel free to come out and visit....basement is 98% finished, only have some minor touch up paint and the bar facing to go.

Can you say Mardi Gras !!!

Nothing like wearing a snowsuit on a 95 degree day, with your butt hanging out !

New toys, yeah

Fun in the sun.

Are there squirrels in Heaven?

It is with a sad heart to have to say good bye to my best friend from the past twelve and half years, Allie. It was a long battle with heart disease that even the vet said was a miracle at her 12 month appointment after she was first diagnosed. He gave her 3 to 6 months to live when she first started getting sick, her heart was functioning at 20% of capacity. She went on 3 different heart pills and kicked the disease's butt for almost 2 years exactly. Allies favorite thing to do was always chasing squirrels. Unfortunately she wasnt able to give em a run for their money since we moved into our new house. Hopefully there are plenty of squirrels to chase in doggie heaven. At the very least she will be with her best bud, J who also died not to long ago. Here is a couple of pics to remember her by.

A Drive Into The Heat For A Shed And A Wedding

Last week the Colorado Tepen's hit the road for a quick trip to St. Louis. Our original intention for the trip was to attend the wedding of Chris' Goddaughter Ann. In planning for the visit, we learned that Grandpa Tepen needed a new shed, so Chris went to work on some plans for a shiny new one. Grandpa Tepen went and got all of the supplies, and the very next morning after our arrival, Chris and Ron set out to tackle the project. Uncle David and Uncle Brian arrived as soon as they could and began working on the shed too. And, in typical St. Louis in July fashion......the weather was hot and miserable. The guys all worked really hard, and by Sunday, Grandpa Tepen had his new shed.

I, on the other hand, avoided the shed like the plague. Uncle David deemed me "supervisor", and besides being inconvenienced a couple of times to help the guys move some stuff , I pretty much stayed indoors, as any good supervisor should. The kids entertained me and Grandma Tepen by playing in buckets(pic below). Wes also went to battle with an ink pen, on the day of the wedding no less......the pen won (pic below). We also got to spend some time with the newest addition to the family, baby John David. He was all smiles with Wes and Mia. Super cute :) Grandma Tepen and I also managed to take the kids to a nice park near their house. The park has a big duck pond and Wes and Mia fed the ducks and played on the swings and slides. I just got emailed some pics of our park adventure last night, but have yet to transfer them to our computer, when I do I will post some more snapshots of Wes and Mia goofing around.

Then we went to the big wedding on Saturday. A beautiful church and a beautiful bride. Ann and Chad made a picture perfect bride and groom. Ann's mom and dad, Jean and Dennis, were proud as peacocks. We were glad to steal a few moments with them after the church at one of the local bars before the reception. Thanks again for buying us a few cool ones Dennis and Jean, we had a lot of fun hanging with you :) It was great to see all of the family.....you are all welcome to stay with the Colorado Tepen's anytime.

Thanks again Pat and Ron for letting us invade your home for a few days......I know it must have looked like a tornado went through it by the time we left.

Enough rambling......enjoy the pictures :)

Thanks Arlene

Many weeks ago a friend at my work brought in a huge bag of children's puzzles for Wes and Mia. All she asked was that I take a picture of the twins doing one of the puzzles so that her granddaughter, the original owner of the puzzles, could see who was taking new ownership of her stuff. So Arlene, a big thank you for all the great puzzles.....sorry it took me so long to post a picture :)

Also I included a couple of pic from this weekend that I snapped of the kids playing in the backyard.

Singin' the Blues.....

Recently we purchased a totally awesome water slide from Craig's' List. This thing blows up in under 2 minutes but provides hours of fun! We christened the slide on the 4th of July. The kids were a little afraid of it at first. Mia, as usual, warmed up to the new toy in seconds. After her first slide down she was hooked. Wes took a little prodding, but when we broke out the slide again this weekend, he went down like a champ. This is definitely one of our cooler Craig's List purchases. Below are a few pics.....















So about the title.......Our daycare has different fun events every day in the summer for the kids. Every Thursday is "Messy Day". You send your kids in crappy clothes that you don't care about, and they let them do all manner of sticky, slimy, super fun stuff. Recently I came to pick the kids up on a Thursday and they were still on their cots sleeping. The daycare staff informed me that the kids had a lot of fun doing messy day. this statement was followed by lots of laughter. A few minutes later, Wes and Mia awoke......then it became clear what all the fuss was about. My children looked like smurfs! I mean they were stained blue from head to toe. I hope the pictures come across so you can see for yourself......it was a good laugh.