All good things must come to an end.....

This year has flown by.....I remember being a kid and a week seemed to take forever...now I believe this past year has skipped several months! A quick run down of this year.......
Lyndsay and Lauryn completed elementary school and started middle school.
I began participating in some local area craft shows selling memory boards and making many new friends.
Bryan has had a good year with his job.
All in all I would say this year was a pretty good one for the Crowder household, but I look forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Last One!

I had my last birthday this week.....turning 30 didn't bother me, but hitting that 35 mark is about as far as I'm willing to go. Now I feel I am officially into the mid thirties and it doesn't look promising from here....so I'll just stay where I am.
The good part of my birthday was that I received my very first Coach purse and wallet. We recently got a Coach Outlet store at our mall and I just had to go look,....well okay buy. I was very good and kept it in the bag for almost a month until my birthday. I don't think Bryan understood when I explained to him that I could have had the all leather bag for the same price as the one I bought, but I really needed my first Coach to have C's on it so people would know it was a Coach. He just looked at me and said,"o.k.".
November is flying by and it will be Thanksgiving before we know it! I love Thanksgiving!

Fall Craft Time!

I haven't been posting much, and won't be for the remainder of Oct. and Nov.! I can't believe how this little craft show thing has taken off! I am now booked for the next 5 weekends! That does not include the 3 I have already been in.

I will not be getting rich, but hopefully will be getting back the money I spent on supplies. I have, however, met some great people and made some new friends!

Oink Oink

So Lyndsay decided to take precautions against Lauryns germs! This little piggy has the flu...↓This little piggy does not►

As Middle School Goes On......

Okay, so you've read that I cracked on the make-up , got them contacts and survived the beginning of the middle school transition.......so, I thought you'd like to see how they've grown up in just a matter of weeks!

9/11

Today we are thinking of all the people who lost their lives and their loved ones on this day.

Thank you to all those who serve our country and keep us safe!

What to do?

So I have actually survived the first week of middle school.....this is not to say it didn't have its ups and downs. The girls seem happy, but mom and dad are still adjusting to them going from elementary to middle school. Things are different......they are really growing up now! I realize that the last few years just flew by while I stood here. It is hard to believe we have been in North Carolina almost 3 years now, but we have. I do miss home sometimes, but this is such a great place to be that it makes it worth it!
I tinkered with the idea of actually going back work since school started, but then who would be here to do the laundry, cook, run errands and all those things?? Oh, that would still be me....so for right now I am contend to stay home again this year.....we'll reevaluate this later.

So I caved!

Ok....I did ....I gave into middle school peer pressure and allowed them to wear a little mascara and eyeliner.......what can I say, I once was a preteen middle school girl! So Sue Me!!

And It Begins.....

Yesterday was officially the first day of middle school for my girls! This included many firsts....the girls are riding the bus this year for the very first time, they have a locker, they have to change clothes for gym and most importantly they came home the first day asking to wear make-up. I didn't consider this would be an issue in 6th grade( I let them shave their legs, for goodness sake!) so I was a little unprepared. We have compromised and decided we will evaluate the need for this around their birthday in November.
It does feel strange to have middle schoolers, I mean I'm not that old!! This is just one more milestone that is passing and it makes me sad on one hand and proud and happy on the other.
On the one I feel like they are growing too fast and are getting very independent, and on the other I feel they are getting very independent....you see this is a double edged sword...I want them to still need me but yet I want them to become self sufficient....I suppose this is just the way it is.

Career Choices

Thinking about all the things I once aspired to be I came to a conclusion......I am doing all of them in one way or another.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a teacher, well with two kids you are always teaching something , so I am a teacher.
Later I wanted to be a lawyer;....with 2 preteen girls I am more like the judge than the lawyer, but with my husband I use my persuasive argumentative side almost daily to prove my point.
At one point in my life I thought about attending culinary school, well, lets see......I get to make meals for my family every day three times!!
I do not recall every wanting to be a maid,chauffeur or personal shopper, but I get to do all these things as well as be a counselor and prison warden some days.

What a 4th!

This 4th of July was wonderful! These pictures show what my girls did all day, and I mean all day! We started out with a party at the private pool we belong to and ended it at our neighbors in the pool! What a wonderful day, spending time with friends and having great food! Thanks to everyone for making this a wonderful holiday for our family!

Summertime!

These are some of farmer Bryans cucumbers! He is proud of them.



The tomatoes are turning pink and the variety of peppers are growing too!





The girls and I are spending most days at the pool enjoying the sun and the friends we have made there.



I will say my tan is impressive , considering it's not even July yet!!



I think I can put a picture of that on here too...................... Yep there it is!

The girls got contacts last week and are doing great with them!

They also got their booster shots for school.....they weren't as excited about that! LOL

I had to get a tetnus shot yesterday, that made the girls happy!

That is about all the news from the Crowder house so far this summer!

The Differences!

One question I am asked time and time again is about the differences of the girls. I can understand that when one who doesn't know them very well looks at them they appear to be pretty much the same, so that is the question I receive. So, lets see................
appearance wise there are a few things; Lyndsay has a fuller face, Lauryn has layered hair, Lauryn is slightly taller at this moment(that could change very quickly), Lauryn is missing her canine tooth on the right side(except in this photo it's Lyndsay missing that tooth!). Now as for differences in their personalities there are so many...........Lyndsay is a clown, Lauryn is a lady, Lyndsay is known to wear the ugliest shoes ever, Lauryn always dresses nicely and matches, Lauryn is more cautious, Lyndsay likes Dr. Pepper, Lauryn likes Cherry Coke, this list could on forever............basically you see they are just like any other siblings, they just happen to share a birthday and look just alike! There are also many things that they are alike in..........they are both beautiful, smart, funny, compassionate,polite,and loved by me!

Busy as a Bee!!

So this week has been busy.......Monday the girls went to the eye doctor and got contacts! That was exciting! Today they had their checkups and received three shots......ouch. They were not real happy about this. It was fun to see how much they weighed and how tall they are.......FYI,they are NOT taller than me YET! We have made some crafts this week , visited the library and went to the pool a few times also. Next week is VBS, which the girls are very excited about! I love summer, but fear it will be over before it starts..........remember when you were little and a week seemed like it took a year to pass, now a month goes by without us even realizing.
Farmer Bryans crops are producing nicely..........if you need cucumbers or tomatoes just let me know...LOL I think we are going to be eating them for every meal by next week.

Time of my life!

Mrs. Lowder and Lyndsay (above)
Mrs. Leslie and Lauryn (below)

Yesterday was the final day of elementary school for the Crowder household. This was exciting, fun and sad all rolled up into one. I am such a proud mom to say that the girls have been on the honor roll every quarter they have been in school. Hope they keep up the good work! This past year we were so lucky to be blessed with such wonderful teachers!
At the conclusion of the ceremony they played the song "Time of Your Life" and I think it was more for the parents than the students, because the whole time I was thinking this really has been the time of my life with my girls. There will be many more years with them, but so many changes happen from that first day of kindergarten until that last day of fifth grade. They learn so many things and socially grow so quickly. I will admit I shed a tear or two as I watched them finish that last day of elementary education. I can't imagine the emotions I will have the day they graduate high school, or the day one of them gets married..........I can't even think about those things.

Great Grandma Hazel is Great!

In thinking about my girls getting so big I must give credit where credit is due. My Grandma Hazel had a lot of influence on my children. She is such an amazing women that I am very grateful helped me with child care when my girls were younger. The girls were around 4 or 5 when she first started watching them for me , oh the things they did together! She would take them to the beauty shop with her and the manicurist would paint their tiny little nails.......when I would come home they would say "Look mommy we had manicutest day!" She taught them how to crack an egg, how to play hide the thimble and to count money. We moved to Arkansas when the girls finished kindergarten and I know how hard that was for her. As much as I needed Grandma Hazel to care for my kids, she enjoyed it and loved them with everything she had. Sixteen months later we moved back and she once again got to keep my girls a few hours a week, and once again they learned so much from her. When I think back of them growing up it is never without seeing Grandma Hazel there teaching,loving and caring for them. Grandma Hazel was very supportive when we moved to North Carolina a few years ago and still is, even though I know deep down it broke her heart to see Lyndsay and Lauryn move that far from her. I owe so much to her and will always know that my girls are who they are because of her. Thanks Grandma Hazel ! We all love you!

Farmer Bryan

This is the first time in many years that we have planted things, having rented for the last several years while moving so much. With buying our house came painting, landscaping and of course planting many things! Farmer Bryan is extremely proud of his tomato plants!! The funny thing about them is that I don't eat ripe tomatoes, but will eat fried green ones! I think our neighbors will be getting lots of red tomatoes in a few weeks. Our cucumber plant has also taken off like wild fire!! I hope everyone likes cucumbers too.......as for the pepper plants we will have to wait just a little longer, but I am seeing several buds, so I think we will have those as well.

Moving On Up!

My daughters are graduating from elementary school in a few days and I'm sad in some ways and happy in others. It was not that long that we were sitting in that pew at preschool watching them walk down the aisle in their blue caps and gowns. I feel like yesterday Bryan and I were taking them to kindergarten in Springfield,MO that first day and Bryan cried and had to stay home a few hours. In first grade they had to get on a bus and go to Girls Inc. all by themselves after school in Fort Smith,Arkansas and I was so worried. We moved them again in second grade, back to Missouri. Then half way through third grade we came to North Carolina, and through all of this they have both always remained honor roll students and adapted very well. The next thing we know they will be graduating from high school and heading off to college.
I am so very proud of my girls, and want them to know how much I love them both!
Congratulations Lyndsay and Lauryn!!

The final countdown!

Only 8 more days of school!! Yipppeeeee!! Take note.......I'm excited about the kids being out of school; no more getting up early, no homework, we can all stay up later...........BUT, in a few more weeks I will be singing the blues and wishing they were back in school so I can have a day by myself! Funny how that works isn't it?

The pool opened this weekend which only makes this last week and a half of school that much more difficult........we'd much rather be swimming!

So the countdown begins..........8 more days of school, 8 more days of elementary school, 8 more days until the girls are officially middle schoolers, 8 more days .......well ,you get the point.

I WONDER

Things I can't understand;

When someone takes a bite of something (or smells it) and says "ooooh that's bad, here taste (smell) it". DUH!!!

When complete strangers ask me if my twins were conceived naturally or not. That is NOT your business!

Why the insurance company and the doctors office can't get my kids bills correct! They are NOT the same person!

Grits.......'nuff said!

How many more years until they run out of different phone numbers, with everyone having a cell, a home phone, an office number......etc.......I'm worried that I will share a number with some crazy person and receive odd messages.

I do really wonder how we survived all those years before internet and DVRs! I want to redo High School with the internet. I bet I could do really well........well , maybe not ........I would be busy facebooking and stuff and never get my work done. I would save money on white out though! My typewriter didn't have the correction tab until I was a senior!

Jen Lancaster was great!!!

I really am not the kind of person who has hobbies, but the one thing I love and get excited over is books! I love to read, so when I heard that one of my newly favorite authors was doing a book tour in my area I was elated!
I felt like a teenager going to her first concert when I got to speak to her! Listening to her read an excerpt from her latest book was better than reading it! I can say that I was never a groupie to any 80's rock bands but I could become one of many authors!
If you haven't read any of Jen Lancasters works, you really should give them a try. Not my usual genre , but absolutely addicting.

*note......the outfit and hair in picture of myself is in no way shape or form the way I normally look!!! It was an 80's inspired tour, therefore I chose to step back into the era!!

Mother

Because of the complexity and differences of the social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother in a universally accepted definition. This is what I got when I looked up mother.
As a mother we all want to do the right things in raising our children, but what is the right thing?
I know that I am not the mother that I thought I would be, but does that mean I'm not a good mother? I believe if we love our kids and try to our best ability to make them into productive members of society that are good people we have done our job. I love my children unconditionally and want them to be happy. I want my children to have everything they need and want. I want them to never feel alone, sadness or heartache........but I know that they will, and if they didn't then they wouldn't have experienced life. So maybe what I really want is for them to know that I will be there for them during all these things, and they can always count on mom to listen, comfort and understand.
Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there, know this is one job that you aren't going to get laid off from! Our work is never done and we love it!

OFF

Nine, yes nine........that is too many mosquito bites to have on May 2nd! I could possibly be infected with malaria now! Seriously who gets eaten alive by mosquitoes on May day? These mosquitoes aren't normal size either, they are mutant mosquitoes that could carry away a small child! Time to break out the OFF and spray away!!

There she rolls!!!

So this weekend I accomplished a lot! The entire deck got stained with a roller and a sponge brush! That was a chore, but I love the way it looks! I can barely move this Sunday evening, but not from all the staining.............I fell,or rather rolled down the hill in the front yard yesterday!
I have no idea how this happened, but I do know that I can roll down the hill, in case you were wondering. I didn't think I was hurt , other than my pride, until tonight.........Oh Lordy, I have muscles in places I didn't know existed, and they are soooooo sore! Bryan could not believe his eyes when one minute I was grabbing my Diet Dr Pepper and going to the back to stain some more ,then the next minute I was laying on the ground covered in grass! Of course my wonderful Daughter, Lyndsay, didn't even stay around long enough to see if I were OK, oh no, she ran in the house to tell her sister "mom just fell down" as if I needed more of an audience!! Did I mention the neighbor was there also? Well, here's a look at our newly stained deck!

Nice Shade!

I'm hot ,I'm cold, I'm itchy, I'm sunburned! Yes it is already that time........I really love spring, and use it to get a decent tan before the pool opens. I know we aren't supposed to tan, it's bad and causes cancer and wrinkles and blah blah blah.......... I can't help it, I know that, but I also know that tan fat is much nicer than white fat.....so there it is...... I will tan!
I feel I need a tan before the pool opens in the same way that one will clean their house before the housekeeper comes, or wash ones hair before going to the salon. See there are just some things that must be done and for me tanning before pool opens is a must do! I did give up spending money on tanning beds several years ago, so at least now my wrinkle causing, cancer giving sunbathing is all free!!
Well I'm off to find the lotion, so I don't look like an alien losing a layer of skin tomorrow(does anyone remember that show V?).......btw blow drying hair with a burned forehead and scalp is not recommended!

All Things Spicy

I have become obsessed this week with spicy food. Let's back up and explain how this happened(other than my tendency to have OCD). An old friend of mine posted a picture on her blog of the stuff she gave her kids for Easter........there right on top of everything were Flamin Hot Cheetos.....okay, I have never actually tried them so I didn't think too much about this until a couple days later when Bryan (husband) and I were in the check-out at Stupid Center and there they were , sitting on the top shelf of the impulse items saying "buy me ", so of course I got a bag. Now let's think , how hot can these thing be? my friend gives them to innocent children. Thankfully my husband is a little OCD about his 'company car' so I had to wait until I got home to eat said Cheetos. Oh My Goodness........call the fire department, call 911, just do something, I thought I would die! 3 Cheetos later I was seriously ill................but the strangest thing, I couldn't stop eating them........every few minutes I would try just one more to see if they were still hot! So the next day I start eating the Jelly Belly beans that I have 3 pounds of and discover the cinnamon are amazing, so after sorting through all 3 pounds I'm out of cinnamon beans and what do I do? Go back to eating the horrible Cheetos!!!! Why? I have no clue, but it doesn't stop there............oh no........last night I went to three different stores just to buy Hot Tamales, they are very close to cinnamon jelly beans, and also found a bag of Flamin Hot Fries!!! Well, after much thought, I have figured out why all these HOT foods have been so obsessive for me the last few days.........these type things did not used to bother me, but I quit smoking about 6 months ago after having smoked for over 15 years , and I think my taste buds are much more sensitive now!! So I hope that I experience a new taste for foods that are actually good for me now...........like vegetables and all things green, but I wouldn't count on it!

Caterpillars Everywhere

So this is the newest of the critters in my backyard.......from what I've read online these are gypsy moths. They will eat all the leafs off my tree and turn into moths and be on their way. This should upset me, but I figure they have a very long climb to get to the top and if they make it they will be hungry,so one year with an ugly tree won't kill us. Maybe I'm not upset about these because it could be worse...last year at this time we seemed to be overrun with snakes, so I'll take leaf eating caterpillars any day, besides all the kids think it's cool!

wonder what this is all about?

So I figure there are all these people writing blogs ........why can't I? Well , we'll see, I could be technically challenged, too old, too boring or just not able to write in complete sentences.
For those people who do write blogs, I might add that if you write about a friend or family member and make fun them, chances are they will read it or hear about it, so think about it!!! Duh!! (this may or may not have happened to me)

I realized recently that my days of being the mother of little twin girls is basically over.....I know. ..I know , I'll always be their mother, but they are growing into adolescents quickly. They are so grown up all of a sudden that I wonder if I was a bad mother and they felt the need to grow up and take care of themselves because I wasn't doing a good enough job.
The day last month when I changed all their clothes from little kid hangers to normal adult size hangers was very difficult for me......it may sound odd, but that is a huge milestone. This also happened to be the same time that they moved into their own rooms for the first time.
They were gone on a three day trip with the school last week, which left my husband and I alone for the first time since........................well, since they were born ! This was very odd, we don't remember marriage without the girls, considering they were born one week after our first anniversary, so we were sort of lost. I suppose we need to figure out what to do with ourselves over the next few years. I should work on that.