Manifestations of Love

I'm quite proud of myself for reading the lesson for this Sunday ahead of time. Miracles can happen. Anyways, the following quote struck me as very profound.

"Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life." 

-Joseph B. Wirthlin

I'm going to try to remember that and try to extend more love and kindness to those around me.

(Kaari-Can this count as your visiting teaching?)

Bottle Races!!

While mom is away Blog Man will play.

The Podee bottle. The best ten bucks you will spend at Babies 'R US. 

PS- Matthew won this time.

Gummi Wummi Yummi

We like our gummi candy... a lot. 

Call it almost an addiction. No cheesy generic brands will do. Our gummi candy must be high quality like Haribo or Black Forest. 

I was informed yesterday (by Blog Man) that I needed to be home that day because UPS would be stopping by. This is what they delivered:

About 6 pounds of candy. That's not as bad as the time he ordered 20 pounds. I never knew gummi candy came in so many shapes and sizes. 

Gummi Snails?

That's how we roll here at the Gray House...one diabetic coma at a time.

The Hostess With the Mostess

Want awesome tips on hosting a party? Check out Kaari at The Mostess. She is the authority on throwing a party. We never miss a Mostess party.(Well, maybe if a relative died and only if it was a CLOSE relative)

And just so you know, the picture of me is at my baby shower (with awesome food) and I was pregnant with twins. Hence, the "heavy" look.

Scrapbooking

This post is for fellow scrapbookers and crafters.

I love to scrapbook and do crafts like sew. I'm not very creative or original when it comes to completing masterpieces but it's fun to do and use all the materials that are available. So on Saturday for a little get away for a few hours my friend Leah and myself went to a workshop by Brigette of Pretty Scrapbooks. 

For a small fee you can crop for 9 hours, use all her cool die cuts, embossing tools, stamps, and stencils. I love the fact that you can spread out all your stuff on a long table. I don't have a place at home to craft so I end up at the dining room table and then it gets covered with my stuff and it is a pain to keep cleaning up, putting it all away only to have to get it out again. Either that, or we are eating on couch or floor. Someday I will have my sewing/craft room in our mansion.

Leah and I stayed to the very end. I managed to get a few things accomplished even though I love to chit chat the whole time. 

Here are some of the fabulous papers you can make: (They look better in real life, I'm just not that good a photographer.)

After six years I got started on my wedding pictures (better late than never!). We have our professional album but I have snapshots and other memorabilia that need to be put together. (At least I've already done our honeymoon.)

Natalie makes pages of her nieces and nephews. (Hers look good!)


Brigette of Pretty Scrapbooks
I can't until next time to use all her die cuts and stamps.
I'm going to the next workshop. Who wants to join me?

Twin Tuesday: Tummy Time!

Both smiling at the same time!

Parenting 101 in the Gray House

Blog Man has finally found validation to his argument that the twinners need to add Diet Coke to their menu. As if one addict in the family wasn't enough. Help!

Know Your DNA

Inauguration Day 2009

I remember my high school history teacher saying that he didn't know if he would live to see a woman or a non-white male ever get elected President.

I hope he's still alive. 

Twin Tuesday: Hangin' With the Aunts in Sunny Santa Cruz

Blog Man's Sisters 

I have a small family and any cousins were all at least eighteen years older than me. I'm so happy my kids have aunts and uncles (and grandparents) that live close by and want to be part of their lives. Hopefully they will have lots of little cousins around to play with soon.

Hey East Coast, Eat Your Heart Out

While most of the country is freezing...

What do you do when the temperature goes past 70 degrees in January?

Go to the beach of course!

Aunt Malinda came to see the twins so we headed down to Santa Cruz to see Louis' other sister Chela and her husband Wes. I lived there for three years and miss living by the ocean. It was a great day for the twins first time at the beach.

Surveying the scene.


Aunt Chela

Big Dude and Little Dude

I love the beach!

California dreaming...

Defiance

Any Daniel Craig fans out there?(yes, he's on the hot scale) The movie "Defiance" is coming out telling the story of the Bielski brothers. I love this true story of three brothers who formed a partisan group after their family was killed by the Nazis and also created a hidden village in the forest of over 1200 Jews who had escaped the genocide. More about their story HERE and the movie HERE.

Theirs is one of the lesser known Holocaust stories but one that is truly remarkable. In my WWII/Holocaust unit I require the students to read one book (fiction or non-fiction) on the Holocaust. While reading through books to recommend I came across one on the Bielski brothers and could not put it down. 

This unit would open up so many good discussions as we talked about human character, prejudice, and injustice. Such questions as,"What do you do if you see injustice happening? Do you stand up or stand by?  What do you want your life to stand for? And what if standing up means sacrificing your own life?" Great stories like those of the Bielski brothers, Denmark rescuing almost their entire Jewish population, and individuals Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg should not be forgotten. 

I hope the movie does the story justice.

Anyone want to babysit so I can see it before it gets to netflix?

Six Months

I figure I better start recording the twins development somewhere that it can't be lost and before I forget.

Matthew and Sarah,

On December 20th, you turned 6 months old. You managed to survive half of your first year of life in our household with no disasters, no thanks to us. ( If anyone asks, we'll deny either of you rolling off the couch.) We've watched you grow from little preemies of 5 lbs and 4.3 lbs to babies with round cheeks and pudgy thighs. 

Sarah, you weighed 12 lbs, 10 oz at your 6 month checkup on the 31st. Your head circumference was 41.5 cm and your height was 2 ft, 1 and 1/4 inches. The doctor says you are petite but healthy. Matthew, your weight was 15 lbs, 120z but you are probably past 16 lbs at the time of this posting. Your head circumference was 43 cm and your height was 2 ft, 2 and 1/4 inches.

You started eating rice cereal, or I should say wearing rice cereal. You both like to grab the spoon and hold on with all your might spilling the contents all over. Matthew, you weren't too sure about the cereal the first time, but you soon caught on to how fun it could be. Sarah, you like to open your mouth for the spoon keeping your thumb in the side of your mouth. It makes it a little harder to keep the contents from spilling out. Also, Baby Mum-Mums (rice rusks)are your new treat. You both love to grab these and chew on them until they disintegrate in your mouth.

Both of you can roll back to front and front to back, often crashing into each other as your play on the floor. Sarah, you like to move on your back by pushing your hips in the air and pushing with your legs and leading with your head. Matthew, you will be crawling soon but for now you lie on our stomach and kick with your legs and flap your arms around while jabbering. Once you get some traction, look out!

Once a week we go to Mommy/Baby Yoga. Neither of you ever cry, but laugh and giggle the whole time. Matthew, you like to check out the other babies, especially the girls and give them that toothless smile. Sarah, you are so light that other mommies love to hold you and do the positions with you if their baby is sleeping. You also have two bottom teeth that are starting to emerge.

And then at about 6pm each weekday, when your dad walks in, you both give squeals of glee. The hour before that is when you do tend to be cranky. It's like you are saying "We are tired and bored of looking at mom all day." And then at 6 it's, "Yeah, dad (aka: the fun one) is home!"

Love,

Mom

Twin Tuesday: Sibling Rivalry Continued

Matthew takes Sarah's rattle, Sarah blows rasberries, and both look to see if mom is watching.

Louis has a testimony of Tivo

Conversation tonight after dinner:

Louis: I think I will transfer "24" from the living room Tivo to the one in our bedroom.

Me: ok

Louis: (coming back from the bedroom) Wow, that Tivo is so smart. It asked if I wanted to start transferring from the point the program was paused so we don't have to fast forward through the part we've already seen.

Me: yeah, that's cool.

Louis: If I wasn't already married, I'd marry the Tivo.

Me: That could be arranged.

Calling Emily Post...

There's tacky and then there's REALLY tacky. And THIS is it. I'm definitely a fan of saving a dollar or two, but c'mon, your wedding at Taco Bell? Hot pink wedding dress for $15? Oh well, to each his own.

Matthew and Sarah's Sibling Rivalry Heats Up

Click for Large Size

Matthew Loves His Football on TV.

Matthew Watching a Late-Season 49ers Game Before Church
We've all seen slack-jawed drooling toddlers. Our friends might have them. Our families might have some. They tend to wear pajamas, sit too close to the television and blink less often than a 'staring contest' veteran. Often, their half-eaten breakfast is getting soggy or stale, and the show they're watching is garish, nonsensical, and always too loud.

In our home, Kristine and I are planning to not put our kids in the care of the electronic babysitter any sooner than we can help it. That means we've decided Matthew and Sarah aren't going to be plunked in front of a television at least until they are two, and when that happens, you've got to believe it's not going to be in front of some ridiculous purple dinosaur, dancing vegetables or psychedelically colored action figures.

But despite the best intentions, we've already found that while Sarah could typically care less, Matthew is drawn to the TV. If it's on in the background during feeding or play time, or when we're trying to put the twins down to sleep, he'll perk up. He'll turn his head toward the TV and away from the bottle, or put down his toy. As a result, we tend to turn the television all the way off until they're down.


Matthew Cranes to See Tonight's NFL Playoffs on the Tube
But it's still fun to see how the twins are reacting to external sources of media. They both love hearing music, of practically all types, from the lullabies on the AOL Radio station on my iPhone, to my trance music from the iPod speakers in the living room, and more contemporary tunes from Kristine. And I think we've even detected a sport preference. Matthew loves football - both professional and college, and Sarah likes watching the MLB Network if I have it on. It's practically the only time I ever catch her trying to watch TV.

If you ask me, if my kids end up sneaking peeks at the television before we'd originally planned, and it ends up being live sports, or old time baseball, I won't feel like we failed. I'll be happy. Just lay off the Nickelodeon and Disney as long as possible, please.

Update to below

Update: I just recalled that I found a $400 mistake for some diagnostic work in '05 and then a $9000 error for my abdominal/appendix surgery in '06. Both times Blue Cross was saying they didn't have to pay and because I called they found the errors and the charges were covered. So, not only should you check your insurance statements carefully, but I saved the Gray household over $10K (and that little part of giving birth to twins). Yeah, I so deserve a present. 

Why I don't send a X-mas card to my health insurance company

A couple of months ago we get a bill from the hospital. Apparently Blue Cross decided to not pay for my last three non-stress-tests. I had to have one of these every week the last six weeks of my pregnancy to monitor contractions or any other problems that can arise with multiples. Insurance paid for the first few, but somehow was billing us for these last three. Not medically necessary? Yeah, right. But if I went into premature labor and had twins in the NICU, then they would certainly be paying that. The $412 for a NST was the much cheaper deal. (I could go on and on about Blue Cross and health insurance in general but would need a few hours.)

Now Blue Cross has made mistakes before and there is no way I'm paying over $1200 when I don't have to.

I decide to investigate. Blog Man said to not waste my time and just pay it. I don't care if it is only $100, I'm not paying when my insurance is suppose to cover it. Last time I checked Blue Cross was not asking for a bailout from the government and being on leave this year means a big chunk of change does not fall into my account at the end of each month.

So I call,(ok, a few calls and being placed on hold more than once) and sure enough, the tests were coded wrong and we should not of been billed. Blue Cross would pay the full amount. I was quite proud of myself.

 This is the conversation when Blog Man got home that day.

Me: I called the insurance company and the bill was a mistake, we don't have to pay.

Blog Man: Oh, ok.

Me: That's it? I just saved us $1200.

Blog Man: Yeah, ok.

Me: uh, I said over twelve...hundred...dollars....

Blog Man: I know.

Me: Since you don't seemed overwhelmed by not losing $1200 perhaps you would like to spend that instead on a gift for moi.

Blog Man: Did you say something? I'm trying to post on my blog.

Me: grrrrrrrrrrr.

(love you honey!)

What do you think? Do I deserve a little something?

Twin Tuesday: We Love our Baseball

GO A'S!

We love Stomper!

This is in honor of the MLB Network debut on January 1st. After the twins are in bed we've seen biographies on Roberto Clemente, Roy Campanella, and Pete Rose as well as top home run hitters and Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. Yes, we like our national pastime. We are already talking about our annual trip to Phoenix for Spring Training. You have to start building a fan base at a young age. 

P.S- Thank you Maria C-G for the great blanket and Nick and Viviana each for a set of onesies.

"Festive" Holiday Sweater Party

For some reason this year was the year of "festive" holiday sweater parties. And by "festive" I mean downright ugly. Take the poor people above who decided to put this picture on flickr. Several people I know either attended or threw a party with this theme. Not to be left out, my department at school decided this was the theme for them. Even though I'm out on child care leave this year, the Grays attended. I forgot my camera and a friend was suppose to email me her pics (hint, hint) but they have yet to be received. So we will have to make do with the few taken on the iphone.

Of course the social studies is the cool department on campus so other faculty attended. Prizes for best sweaters was a block of fruitcake. They will probably be recycled for next year.

The couple prize went to Molly (one of our Spanish teachers) and her hubs Enrique. We said "holiday" sweaters, not just Christmas and these had blinking dreidls.

Matthew is upset that Bill's sweater is more "festive" than his.

Turn your back for one second with these kids and look what happens. At least it's the good stuff. (Don't worry, he has an appt. with the bishop next week.)

Got Apple?

Louis, sister Malinda, brother Jeremy, sister-in-law Heather

(It's in the genes)

Baby it's cold outside

Louis' mother got these outfits for the twins. They will keep them warm on our walks, especially their hands and head. The lining is so soft and warm. A little big right now but better that than too small.

 Louis thinks they look like a cross between Goombas and Eskimos.

THANKS NANA!