New in 2012: Our Kids and Opera

The Phantom of the Opera came out Sunday night. The 25th Anniversary of, The Phantom of the Opera. But we were gone working. Before we left, I set our DVR, and recorded it. Knowing that when we got back, I'd watch it over a few nights. After the kids were asleep.

What surprised me was, Billy wanted to watch it. And so did our kids! It happened on Tuesday. I was looking, for a show for the twins. We were getting Lauren ready. And it showed up on the list. Lauren asked about it. And seemed really interested in it. So we agreed, Wednesday, we'd watch it. Together.

I was a little skeptical of our plans. I can't lie. At worst, I thought, I'd watch it later that night. On Wednesday, as the twins napped, I prepared. I got out the new things I'd bought. To entertain my kids. New coloring books, crayons, small games, that kind of thing. Between, I just went to the Dollar Tree, for all of that!

Then I baked some cookies, made sure dinner was coming along in the slow cooker, and looked for snacks. I set up our den, to be "movie ready." But I was still not sure.

By the time I picked up Lauren, and Billy got home, I highly doubted, my kids would sit through this show. And boy was I shocked!



Not only did they sit through it, but they were mesmerized! Didn't make too much noise. Didn't touch all the toys. Just sat there and watched. Honestly, the 5 of us, cuddled on the couch. Almost the entire time. Eyes wide open. Taking in the entire show!

I was shocked. I didn't think my kids, would really be into this show. I didn't think, that almost 2 year olds, would find it interesting. But there was something, for everyone.

I'm positive, that Robbie enjoyed all the "special effects." Which definitely added to the show. Lauren and Abby, were both, really interested in the dancing. Especially, in the beginning. Billy was really into the music. I thoroughly enjoyed the makeup and costumes!

I really thought, that the content, would be a bit much. But the "death scenes," happened quickly. And you didn't really notice, if you weren't really paying attention. Which, my kids were not watching, that closely. When we knew someone would die, we'd distract them. And it was over in a few seconds.

My favorite part of the show, was the encore. At the end. When the older cast, performed. Quite emotional. I will say this, I'm glad that I had recorded it. Because the local channel, was using this, to "collect pledges." It was nice to skip all of that!

This was an interesting experiment. This morning, Lauren asked me, when we could watch another show like that. Interesting. Maybe we can find a "Children's Opera," to take them to. I think that would be a lot of fun.

In case you are interested in seeing the Phantom of the Opera, I'd check PBS. Here's a little clip of the show. And you can definitely check your local listings. Maybe you can catch it this weekend.. It's worth the few hours.

~Manders

New in 2012: Box Play for Kids

Not long ago, my sister-in-law and I were talking. I swear to you, Robbie is obsessed with boxes! For Christmas it's ALL he wanted to play with. Every time we get a package, he just wants the box! My SIL was telling me, that her sons are the same way.

My SIL made a wonderful discovery last year. Box Play for Kids. Have you heard about them? It's a company, that sells stickers. Not just any stickers. But stickers to put on boxes, egg cartons, milk cartons, and toilet paper rolls. Which turn the boxes into new toys! Yes, they are adorable! And guess what, my SIL sent my kiddos a bunch! This is what we got to try out this week! Just look at what we got. :)



Remember, they were mostly for Robbie. My boy. So this tractor was just perfect! And only $5. It's made for hours, and hours of good playtime!



How about a cow? Around our family, this is the best $8 you could spend! We're all about farm animals!



Let's play doctor. This eye chart is too cute! And just $6. I can hear my twins, for hours, playing with this box. I'm not lying. They even hold a cup over one eye! :)



How about a $5 piano? This is one of Abby's favorites! She sings to herself, and pretends to play. She even tells Billy, that she's practicing to be in the BBs!!!



A $5 camera! This one, all 3 of my kids love! I'm kinda of wanting to order a couple more of these. Because they go around, "snapping pictures," all day long!



How about bowling? This set is only $4! And has given our family, hours of fun. We actually got 3 sets of these. And set it up, in our hallway. Literally, our kids could play for hours!



An $8 pink refrigerator. Where was this, when we were buying stuff for Lauren's Little Pink Playhouse? Could have saved us some serious money!



How about a Bento Box for pretend play? This one is $6. And I see Lauren and Abby "feeding" their babies for hours and hours. So cute!



I'm not going to lie, after my SIL told me about this website, I went to peak around. I bookmarked it. And said I was going to order a few things. That was before the holidays. And just the other day, I was thinking about this website. And I figured that I'd order some stuff, for Easter.

But after we got our gifts, I went back to the website. I'm telling you, my kids are in LOVE with these stickers! And guess what I found? Some free Valentine's! Immediately, I downloaded the file. This was one of the gifts we gave our kids. :) Filled with lots of goodies. I also made some, for our friends' kiddos!

Who in the world, would have thought, my kids would LOVE these so much! I'll never look at a toilet paper roll the same way again. Never! Are there any fun toys or crafts, that you've found. Or think we should take a look at. Please let me know!

~Manders

Lalaloopsy Sew Cute! Playhouse...and Abby!!!

J is always calling me. Wanting to steal Abby, for a few hours. He's such a wonderful Godfather to her. Honestly, Abby just lights up, when her Godparents are around!

Usually J and Abby just hangout at the Ranch. She always comes home exhausted! Telling me about all the animals, the swimming pool, and the Big Red Barn! J is just like us. And that's what makes him such a great friend!

I'm not going to lie. J has a habit of spoiling Abby. All our kiddos actually. But Abby has a nice stash of toys, at his house. Even in his office. :) But I was shocked to see this playhouse the other day!



I know that Abby is head over heels in love, with all dolls. Dollhouses are the bees knees to her. We've been thinking of buying her, a playhouse for her birthday. But this is a little over the top! Even for my sweet girl. A $170 toy, for my not yet 2 year old daughter. Given to her, by her Godfather, not us.



Yes, she loves it! And is so good about playing in her playhouse. Billy and I sat there, just watching her play. She was so into it! Had absolutely no clue, that we were there! Talking away to herself. Just playing. Sitting her dolls here and there. Having the time of her life! Really? Yes, she was in love!

J reassured us. It's just a special present. He doesn't regularly buy her these types of toys. It's just something they saw, one day, on a trip to the store. And well, he couldn't resist. Yes, my daughter has her Godfather wrapped around her teeny, tiny, little finger!

I felt better, when we were leaving. And she carefully "put away" her playhouse. And picked up her rag doll. The one that J bought her when she was just days old!

But I still have to laugh, when I think about the scene in J's office! You'd think he was a father of 10! We love you J. But you really don't have to spoil Abby so much. I will say this, we appreciate everything you do, especially the way you love our family! :)

~Manders

New in 2012: College Basketball

We're really trying to do new things, as a family, in 2012. I should start off with, I'm not a big sports fan. At all. I've just never gotten into it. But I'll try and watch with Billy. I enjoy a good rodeo. Or a football game...because of my brother. He played football in high school. But that's usually were it stops and starts for me.

We live near a college town. And I can count the number of times, that I've gone to a game. 3 times! And they were all football games. It's probably been 3 years since we've gone. Yes, it's been a while. Although, whenever there is a football game, of any kind on, it's on in our house.

Billy and I were talking the other day. We like to take our kids on adventures. We go to all sorts of places. But honestly, most of our activities, are for our daughters. And we were starting to feel guilty. That's when the idea of going to a game, came to mind.



It took a bit of planning. A trip to the college bookstore. Our kiddos needed some new outfits! And we were on our way. We wanted our kiddos to really enjoy the entire experience. So there were hotdogs, popcorn, nachos, and some sweet treats. We had foam fingers, pom-poms, and some bells that they handed out.

I never thought that we'd have that much fun. But it was a night full of fun! Our kids never complained, or fussed. They cheered for our team. Jumped up and down, every time they scored. Pistol Pete was the bees knees to them! I have to admit it, I had a great time too. Right now, I'm looking at the schedule. Wondering when we can go back again. Ya, it's something that we're going to be doing again. I'm sure Robbie appreciates it! You know, doing some boy stuff.

~Manders

Carbon Mess

I really wanted to love this mascara. I heard and read such good things about it. I bought 2 tubes. One for me to try. And one to try on Lola for the gigs.

My first impressions of this product were really good. I was excited. The brush is a good shape. Allowing you to get into the corner lashes. I like the way it's tapered. The brush is also a nice shape to prevent clumping. I initially purchased the waterproof formula. It's the formula I use for all mascaras.

The color was a deep and highly pigmented black. Much darker than most drugstore mascaras. The formula was also nice. Not watery or runny. But also not thick and clumpy. It applied easily. Didn't leave my lashes clumpy or weighed down. Things were looking good. My lashes had length, volume, and a deep black color.

But as the day wore on, I noticed the transfer of the product. Roughly 2 hours after I applied the mascara, I had raccoon eyes. I hadn't cried, had water splashed on me, or even gone outside. But the mascara was definitely running. I cleaned up my under eye area, and waited to see what would happen.

All day, every time I looked in the mirror, I had mascara transfer. Quite a bit of it. I don't have oily skin. And I've never experienced this before. I was honestly shocked at the mess on my face.

By dinner time, I couldn't take it anymore, I removed the mascara from my lashes. It came off very easily with a baby wipe. And this is the waterproof formula! For the following month, I let the product "dry." I thought that a drier product might result in a better product. But I got the same result when I tried to wear Carbon Black again.

I also tried this product on Lola. During a photo shoot. Again, it applied magically. This mascara has a way of making your eyelashes look amazing. Now Lola does have oily skin, and eyelids. So this was going to be a real test.

Sure enough, the product began running. This was an early morning shoot, outside. Meaning that it was cold. But the mascara transfer was horrible! You would have thought Lola was in a swimming pool. Or crying. After an hour, I removed it and went back to our reliable mascara.

But I wasn't done with this product. I gave Lola the tube, that I'd used at the photo shoot. I figured she could play around with it, and tell me what happened. After trying it out for a few weeks, she really hated it. She tried everything. Including layering it with another waterproof mascara. Nothing helped! I also went out and bought the regular formula. You know what, it was worse. I had horrible transfer.

I'm not sure if it was just Lola and I that had this problem. But it was horrible! The mascara seemed to melt off of our eyelashes and down our faces. This is a product that I would not recommend. Which saddens my heart. Because L'Oreal happens to be one of my favorite drugstore brands.

~Manders

*FTC: All items have been purchased by me. All my opinions are honest, and I'm not being paid to review these products.

Naked Pallet

My husband is pretty amazing! I hadn't even mentioned this pallet to him. I hadn't said one word. I believe, I read about it on 1 blog. About a month ago. That was it. But I think he's learned. We've been together over 5 years now. The poor man has had to listen to me babble about makeup the entire time! And today, when he came home from a work trip south, he had this beauty with him!

Yes, he did it all by himself. I'm not sure where he even found it. Because we don't have a Sephora anywhere nearby. But my hubby did well. Real well! And as soon as my son is done with his night time feeding, I'm going to start playing. Just a little. I can't help myself!

~Manders

A Package

We got a big package in the mail today. So big, the big mail truck came to deliver it. I was surprised. I didn't think Billy had ordered anything. And I knew I hadn't. So I had the mailman put it in the front entry.

I figured, when Billy got home, we'd figure it out. It turned out to be a package from my in-laws. Loaded with gifts! For all of our kids. Lauren was so excited. I don't know if she was more happy over her cowboy boots, or her new doll carriage. I'm thinking this one won out. Being that she's been pushing around all her dolls around the house. I can hear her from the time Billy gets up in the morning, until we tell her it's bedtime.

Who would have thought? She really does love this toy!. And to my in-laws, thanks so much for everything! I promise I'm getting pictures out. I'm just a little slow. But the twins look adorable in all their new western clothes. :)

~Manders

Our Exciting News!

Now that our families know our news, it is time to tell our friends. On Friday, we found out we are having twins! Yes, TWINS! OK, so the picture maybe a little deceiving, we don't know yet if they are boys, girls, or a boy and a girl. We will find out next week whether they are fraternal or identical. Sometime between 18-20 weeks, we will find out the babies gender.

We are so excited! All of our families are excited too! Lola was just too happy on Friday. I know that she has been bursting at the seams to tell everyone. So have we! Lauren is happy to know she is getting 2 babies now. This also answers my question, "Why am I already so big?" My belly popped a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I have been showing. I know I am slim, but this explains a lot! I guess I also have to change my label from Baby to Twin Babies. We are excited to meet out twins. Just 28 weeks to go!

~Manders

Wonderful News!

We got some pretty great news yesterday. But we are going to wait a bit to tell everyone on here. There are some very important people that need to know first! Lola knows, because she was there when we found out. Sorry about being so cryptic. We just need to talk to some important people in our lives first.

For now, we are headed to visit my parents. It should be a nice weekend. There is rain in the forecast, but not too much. Mom and I already have some plans to go shopping. I just hope the crowds aren't too bad. Because it is a holiday and my hometown is a bit of a resort town, it usually gets flooded with people over a holiday weekend.

In any case, we are excited about heading to the mountains. We only have a few short weeks before the snow begins. And when it starts snowing out this way, our trips become less frequent. Until then, we will make a couple of more trips. And love every single one!

~Manders

Lauren's New Playhouse

Today Billy and Joe put together Lauren's new playhouse. After seeing the ones on Jon and Kate +8, Billy wanted to get Lauren one. After much digging around, calling, and who knows what, Billy took me out to the barn last night. J had delivered it. The cutest little thing you could ever lay your eyes on! But it needed to be put together. The 2 of us agreed to keep it a secret for Lauren.

And this morning after breakfast, we met Anna Marie at Target for some shopping. Anna Marie and Eva were doing a lot of shopping for the new baby. Joe and Anna Marie's new daughter will be here in November. I half wanted to add some new kitchen toys to our basket. But Lauren was very observant today. And I didn't want her to get suspicious. I know she is only 2, but she gets things very quickly.

We also made a stop at Hobby Lobby. The girls were too thrilled over some jewelry kits that we bought. And eventually we made it to Applebee's for lunch. But Lauren and Eva didn't make it much past that. So we headed back to Anna Marie and Joe's house. Still uncertain of the progress at our house.

Halfway through the girls' nap and our manicures, Billy called. They were not done. Because they needed to find some tool. Which lead them to make the hour trip to the larger city nearby. Then another hour back. They were just getting started.

Once the girls woke up, we had a snack. Then the girls noticed our painted nails. And wanted some too! After painted nails, the girls made lots of necklaces. Draped all 4 of us in beads. Anna Marie and I were trying to keep them entertained. When in walked our husbands. All smiles and proud of themselves.

Billy and I took Lauren home. And she was so excited when she looked in the backyard. Her Little Pink Playhouse was waiting for her. And I was very impressed. Billy had even bought little furniture and toys for the inside. Dolls and dress up clothes too! She was so thrilled. And spent hours and hours playing in her house.

I am so glad that we thought about this. Lauren has a tree house/play house at my parents house and at my in-laws. But we had never thought about it here at home. To see Lauren so excited, made me happy! She even wants to plant flowers around her house!

~Manders

A Couple's Trip

Billy surprised me 2 days ago with a quick trip north. We were going to see the Gretchen Wilson concert. My parents had already agreed to watch Lauren. Billy really had everything covered. Lauren was over the moon to go see her grandparents. And to go "camping" with grandpa. My dad was setting up a tent in the backyard when we got there. At 6AM! My parents live up in the mountains. And dad decided that Lauren need to camp out for a night. Lauren was jumping out of her seat the minute we stopped in the driveway.

After talking with my parents for a while. And my mom packing us some snacks. Billy and I were on our way. It is about a 4 hr drive. But not too bad. Since we dropped off Lauren and got on the road by 8AM, we had a little bit of time to wonder on our way. We stopped in 2 small towns. The 1st, we found a nice antique shop. Billy picked up some old tools. And I found some nice boxes and metal baskets. The 2nd, we had lunch. It was just a leisurely day. Once we got to the place were the concert was, we checked into our room and relaxed.

We were lucky that the place where the concert was also had a nice hotel. We ordered in dinner and got ready. I was so excited. I love Gretchen's shows. This is the 4th one that we have seen. She is a really good live performer. Not all recording artists are. After the concert we made it back to our room fairly quickly.

This morning we slept in. And ordered breakfast in our room. I have to say, this place has some good food! Billy even surprised me with a mini shopping trip. We went to the Uptown Center. And I bought some MAC, 2 dresses, and some books for Lauren. We had a quick bite to eat. And bought some cupcakes at a bakery nearby.

We've been on the road back to my parents' house for about 2 hrs. We are both excited to see Lauren. As much as we miss her, it was nice to just get away for a day. To spend some good, uninterrupted time with my husband. Taking care of our relationship, only makes us better parents. And while we can sneak in a mini trip or 2 before the baby comes, we will. It is important to both of us.

~Manders