Winter

Well it has been a few months since I have posted. We are all getting ready for Christmas. I am almost done with my shopping, and got my tree up last night. It sure seems like more work every year. Maybe age is a factor. We finally have snow on the ground so it is starting to feel like the Holiday season. I should send the girls out to make a snowman. The girls are both excelling in school. Hardly any not so good reports. Next week I get to chaperone a trip to the Guthrie Theater to see "A Christmas Carol". That should be a good time. It is the first time I have had the chance to get away from work to attend an outing with Holly.
Alyssa still lives in the cities with her mom. It seems to be working out all right, but gets difficult sometimes to drive to get to see her. Chris is still busy working all the time. He hopes to be done working a second job soon. We all are waiting for that! I have been busy at work as well. Although I dont work as many hours as he does at my job, I sure seem to put in alot here at home. I am always finding things to do. I recently just redid my kitchen. There was some god-awful ivy wallpaper on the walls, that I just got tired of looking at; so I decided to take on the task of tearing all of that down and painting. It was a big job, but someone had to do it right? It took me 4 days, but I got it all done. I hope to redo my bathroom next, but I dont think Chris will be happy about that project. He thinks I take on too much.
Our Christmas schedule is hectic as usual. We go here, and there, and try to fit in all the gatherings that we can, but can never get to all of them. We head up north the week before Christmas to spend time with my in-laws, and then the week of Christmas we are all over the place. Our girls will make out like bandits again this year. Boy I dont remember ever getting as much as they do for Christmas. But Christmas is for the kids anyways, isnt it?
Well just thought I would leave a note to let everyone know that we are still alive and kicking. I will try to get on here more often....when I get time. :)

The Fall begins

Well it has been a few crazy months. We have been keeping pretty busy. The girls are off to school. Both are loving it, as much as any kid loves school. Holly informed me today that she got 230 points on the Math section of her NWEA testing, one of the highest scores in the 5th grade. Way to go Holly! They have both started Girl Scouts again also. Pretty soon we will be bombarded with fundraisers. Tis the season! Chris is still working many hours, but I think that is his calling. He seems to thrive on being incredibly busy, although it is tough being home alone so much without him. I have been working on some projects around the house as well as trying to lose some of the very much unwanted pregnancy weight. I managed to get my bedroom painted. I am now just waiting for the bedding to arrive so I can pick out curtains and wall hangings. I have started my fall decorating (my fav time of the year). I am hoping that Chris and the girls will again surprise me with hay bales and corn stalks for the yard. Before we know it, the snowflakes will be flying.
We took the girls to their very first Twins game a few weeks ago. It was a pretty exciting game, one of the last games of the season. I think they both enjoyed it, but were really more interested in all the snacks the dome had to offer. After they both got some cotton candy, I think they were pretty happy. It has been hard to get family time in with Alyssa being in the cities, Holly at her dad's every other weekend, and Chris working so much; but we are managing. This next weekend we are all together again, so hopefully we can do some much needed bonding!

Next Tuesday, will be a pretty tough day for me. It would have been my due date for the twins. I have decided to get a tattoo of the boys' footprints to signify the day. I have been thinking about it for a while now, and thought that day would be the perfect day to do it. I am a little nervous about it, but how bad can it really be? We still miss them very much. Life does get a little easier every day, but there are moments each day that I have to just sit down and take a deep breath to keep from crying.

Back to School

Today was the 1st day of school for Holly. Alyssa started at her new school on Tuesday. I think both girls were ready to go back to school. Holly was extremely excited to start school especially when she found out that she got Mr. Miller for her teacher. I am going to have words with him very shortly I am afraid....he told Holly that he really likes home baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies...so what did I do last night until after 9?... bake cookies for Holly to take to school with her. She must want to be the teacher's pet from day one!! Gotta love that kid. She has a heart of gold! I guess I shouldn't complain, Mr. Miller claims not to send homework home, they do it in school, so that will leave much more time to spend with Holly doing kid stuff rather than trying to figure out math way back from the 5th grade!
Tonight starts the first night of fall softball for Chris. I am not sure if I am attending or not. I would love to go, but after running errands all week, a nice relaxing night at home sounds pretty appealing as well!

The end of a rough summer

Hello again. Well it has been a few weeks since we have posted anything. We are slowly getting our lives a little bit back to normal. I have been back to work for 4 weeks now, Alyssa has moved to the cities and started school on Tuesday, and Holly starts school here in Mankato tomorrow. We have spent our weekends being crazy busy with camping trips, family get togethers, friend get togethers, etc. I think now our summer is finally dwindling down and we can relax and enjoy a weekend. Chris accepted a shift manager position at his second job, so that will keep him even more busy than he already is, and will give me time to get some long awaited re-decorating done. I am hoping to paint and redecorate our bedroom, and then to the daunting task of tearing down our jungle wall paper in the kitchen and paint a "normal" color. I am excited to get it done, but don't look forward to the hard work it will entail.
We haven't really had a chance to get up north to see the Dostert's lately, but hope to get there at the end of Sept. It will be nice to go up there and relax/visit, especially while the leaves are starting to change colors. It is hard to believe that fall is on its way(the dog clearly reminds me of this everyday when I see her hair all over the house!), and we are already pretty close to Thanksgiving already. This crazy year is almost over!!

Moving On

Well it has been a while since we have posted anything. It took some time for us to get back to our somewhat normal life again, however normal it will ever be. Our girls are back on their usual summer routine until school starts, Christian is back at work, and I should be back to work next Monday. We have spent the weekends with close family and friends camping, visiting, reminiscing, etc. Softball has ended, bible school is over with, and the girls' parks program only has 2 weeks left. Our summer is almost over, how soon it has gone by. I go back to the Dr. tomorrow for my post partum check up, and should be released to go back to work. That in itself will be bittersweet. I am ready to go back, but yet that only means that everything is over with and it is time for us to completely get on with our lives. There isn't a day that has gone by that we don't think of our boys in some way, and wish that things had turned out differently. But the lord had another plan for all of us, we just need to keep on living to find out what that plan is.
After opening all the cards and letters from our great friends and family, we have learned how truly blessed we all are that we know such wonderful people. They are indeed what helped us through all of this, and we couldnt have done it without them.