Christmas Cookie Exchange

I've been wanting to do this for some time now. I had thoughts of doing it in California but I guess having twin infants puts many things on the back burner:) So, finally this year I got the gumption to get it done. It was a fun night of girl chat, NO kids and yummy treats. Christen, Amy, Lori and Heather we missed you. If you're looking for a fun girls night anytime of the year...what better way than a cookie exchange! You get fun girl time, yummy food and LOTS of take home treats to share with the fam (or hide and eat yourself).






We sat and drank coffee, punch and hot chocolate....mmm, the perfect beverages for yummy treats!





Nothing better than sitting and eating yummy treats with NO noses to wipe, NO food to cut and NO instructions to be given!

I was excited to see what yummy treats the girls would come up with. Boy, they did not disappoint... Everything was wonderful. Here are a few pics of our yummy treats. If only you could taste them!

Carolyn's Meringue Cookies...with hints of chocolate hidden inside:)

Melanie's Christmas Wreath Cookies...what a fun Christmas treat!

My Orange Sweet Cakes...really good shower food as the recipe makes a ton!

Suzanne's Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies...she even made the strawberry jelly herself!

Sara's Cookies and Cream Truffles...Oh boy, these were sinful!

Would you take a look at this presentation... and she was worried about coming because she doesn't cook... could have fooled me, she sure can bake! Everyone was to bring a copy of their recipe to share...um, yeah...she outdid all us southern gals all the way around! This is a picture of the "bundle" of goodies everyone got to take home with them. Just in case you forget what they look like as you bake them later...just flip the card over and there is the picture:) Amazing...my goodies were sent home with everyone in "Glad" containers. I think she has adjusted to the south nicely:)

Somehow I missed getting a picture of Meghan's goodies: a square pretzel with a melted Rollo and then topped off with a pecan...a perfect combo of sweet and salty.

Hope everyone had a fun and festive time heading into Christmas. The boys and I enjoyed all my take home loot from the "cookie" exchange...OK I am lying, we didn't so much share with the boys as we let them have A taste. They didn't know what they were missing:)

preschool party...bah humbug

Surprise... I am late in posting our Christmas adventures. None the less, I thought I would share them anyway.

The last day of preschool for the boys they were having a Christmas party and the parents were invited to attend. I was excited to see what they had been up to for the past few months and had heard there would be a little show.

I walked in to find them sharing a toy! Imagine that, they were being sweet with each other and playing QUIETLY together...why can't they do this at home?

This was a shot of the kids as they prepared to sing for all the parents. You might be wondering where my 2 blond headed monkeys are?

Standing right beside me of course...refusing to participate and watching the rest of the cute kids sing songs... should have snuck in at this time so they would have gone up front...seems I should have watched the whole party from the window...they were so out of sorts while I was there...fighting and not wanting to share me. Peyton was sad daddy wasn't there:( Not sure how he knew Chris could have been there? I think they would have enjoyed their party without me being there:( Throwing food, fighting over chairs, fighting over my lap...so much fun.

At least they were sweet with their teachers...Parker and Mrs. Robbie

OK, they had ONE sweet moment I happened to capture

Peyton and Mrs. Rachel

Maybe too many M&M's were the culprit?

Peyton and Mrs. Robbie

I was quite upset that the party was not as I hoped...I guess my pregnancy hormones were hitting hard. We even left a little early b/c they were out of control. Peyton was still asking for daddy...so for some reason I had the bright idea to drive to the home office to surprise Chris and have lunch with him... BAD IDEA!

I am not quite sure why I thought they would be any better there... Oh the life with toddler twins. So needless to say, I don't think Chris and I ate lunch and I quickly left so Chris' entire day would not be ruined.




We had to bribe them with icedream just to get them to sit at the table. It was either a full blown tantrum by both of them or the icedream...seeing that we were in the middle of lunch at the cafeteria with ALL of Chris' counterparts...we chose the icedream. Usually I would let the tantrum happen and find a timeout spot where we were. I think my emotions got the best of me and I caved... I was DONE!

So to top ALL of it off, we had one more incident in the front lobby. Sure, why not? I was turning in our security badges...getting the coats and hats on the boys...and Peyton decides he is NOT wearing his coat or hat and is all about letting everyone know this. Aside the fact that it was in the 40's that day...I would have let him go without them. We finally managed to get the coat on and some poor lady got the brunt of him throwing his hat at her:) I just love the looks I get from people at this point. Yes...I LET my children act like this, I find great joy in it. No, we do not discipline them, we believe their free will should be seen as not to damper their spirits... Truth be known...I was ready to strangle him! Obviously timeout was not an immediate option. I don't think bringing out the spanking spoon right then and there was an option and there was no bathroom near by. So I said a quick prayer and quickly headed to the car, swearing I would never, EVER, bring them in public again. As my mother's old saying goes... and I quote "it will be a cold day in July before...." fill in the blank there.

Many tears and vows on the way home...I decided it was just a bad mommy day and "this too shall pass". I HATE days like this and always walk away feeling so guilty. Guilty that I am not enjoying my children or being a stay at home mom. Guilty that they are not well behaved, obviously it comes back to my parenting. Guilty that I wanted to strangle my child...not really but you know what I mean. Needless to say, we all had a very LONG nap time to think about our behavior and actions:)


The teachers did have a nice gift for the parents. They had taken pictures of the boys during the semester and had put them together for us. This did bring happy tears to my eyes....they do look like happy well behaved kids in these pictures. I loved seeing how they interacted at school. The pictures were so sweet:)

I especially love the bottom right picture of them...they do this at home too. Friendly wrestling...glad to see they are enjoying the same at school. As long as they don't do it to other kids:)


Of course there were the staple hand made ornaments made from their hand prints. I just love them and will cherish them for years to come. Needless to say, they are they only ornaments that made it to our tree this year. Our tree came VERY close to making it on our front porch as a decoration. They would NOT leave it alone. Maybe next year:)

Hope your preschool parties were more delightful than ours...thankfully our family Christmas celebrations were fun for everyone and the boys were a joy to be around.

Happy New Year!

Sadly, our New Year didn't get off to a happy start:( It seems the wrong Tigers won the bowl game. What a heart breaker. Oh, well... there is more to life than a football game! (Convincing Chris of that is a bit harder...especially when his Tigers loose)


As you can see, we rang in the New Year with 74, 413 Tiger fans at the Chick-fil-A bowl. It did get a bit confusing at times yelling "Go Tigers".... Seeing that mostly all 74,000 + fans were Tiger fans of some sort...and in some fashion of Orange! Despite the loss, we had a good time and enjoyed a night out with each other. We saw lots of friends from Clemson we have not seen in years. It was the only game we made it to this year...it helped that it was in our backyard!

Did I mention we had GREAT seats? It's always a plus when you work for the company that sponsors the game:) We had tickets on the 6th row...but Chris' boss had two seats open on the FRONT ROW and invited us to join them:) Uhh, sure! It was great because I could sit down and prop my feet up when everyone else was standing...and still see the game. Sadly, my Tiger "tattoo" on my belly didn't seem to do the trick. The boys were so confused when they saw it. They couldn't quite figure out that it was a sticker. I should have painted a huge paw on my belly. Surly I would have gotten us some TV time then...maybe a "Hi Mom" message would have worked too. I just settled looking like a giant pumpkin:)


Hope everyone has had a great start to '08. Christmas is done, the decorations are down, and we are in the process of weaning the boys off their sugar high. Not to mention getting them back on schedule...they are bucking the system head on! We should have them squared away just in time for their world to get rocked the end of February when baby girl gets here. Oh my oh my!

My Incredibly Beautiful Wife

I want the entire world to know this:

I love you Martha Darley! You are such an amazing woman. You are beautiful. You are as beautiful today as you were when I first met you. I have been blessed because of our friendship before marriage, blessed over these past 6 years in marriage, and blessed to see what the next 70 years have for us. You are a Godly woman who places me second, where I belong and I don’t tell you enough how blessed I am. I love you with all my heart. Happy 1st Anniversary of your 29th Birthday!

Love,
Topher

From Tom Boy to 30 Year old Mommy!

1st of all, this is officially my 1st post on OUR blog, so here goes my valiant attempt at blogging…There are 2 posts by me, Chris. One is really just for Martha, but you can read it too, and the other is for the entire World Wide Web! Enjoy

Well I can’t believe it either to be honest. It doesn’t seem like 12 years, 7 weeks, and 3 days ago my life changed forever as I met Martha for the 1st time. We met at an Ice Cream Social at Clemson’s FCA, 3 days before classes started Freshman year. The event is fantastic entails 30 feet of vinyl gutter, lots of aluminum foil lining the gutter, and roughly 50 Gallons of Ice Cream! I was with my roommate Jason and our friend Kristen Young (yes we did call her by her initials…). We met Martha and the rest of the “Lever Ladies” (an all girls dorm where she lived) and I truly only noticed Martha.

Smokin! That was a good word to describe her, both then and today. Seriously, I thought she was gorgeous. I really can’t remember what we talked about that night, but walking back, Jason and I both talked about a couple of specific girls. So the ice cream party created a group of friends and it is pretty amazing that from that night I pretty much met 80% of the people that we hung out with in college.

So I gave you the introduction story because it is fun for me to think back to when I first laid eyes on Martha. Now the story is not meet at the ice cream thing and then we got together. That would be way to boring. We decided to make it a lot more interesting, but that journey will have to wait. Maybe when she turns 40!

So let’s have a little fun with this. It is not everyday that someone reaches this “mature” moment in life. So, post your favorite Martha story. Post a good time you had with her or a funny story or a good time & funny story...

I will not say anything about the pictures below, because my hair look, well...the exact same!!!

Ally and Martha digging for gold for all to see!

Yes that is a "Strawberry Shortcake" cake in the bottom left. Now I have a few questions about the 4 year old Russian Gymnist out logging in the middle of winter. What kind of unethical training is that?!

OH MY GOODNESS...The mystery is solved as to where the "Parker" face comes from (check out the bottom right pic with the pumpkin)!!!

Straight up athletice ability! She can still do that when one kid is in the den and she needs to get to the kitchen...I'll get some footage and post later.

I'm not sure what happened in the top right picture here. I think Mom Heyward's chest of drawers exploded and covered Martha with patched together pieces of fabric. Well at least she isn't wearing yellow socks...

Merry Christmas and a Happy Prom! Check out Ed, current Operator with Chick-fil-A. When he came through for interviews and I heard his name, I thought, "That name sounds really familiar...Oh yeah, he took my wife to prom 2 years!!!" Ed is a truly great guy and Operator.

I'll get everyone started with some great pictures from over the years. Thanks to Mom Heyward for hooking me up some great pics of Martha back in the 80 & 90s!

Here are some more pictures (not nearly as good as the previous ones...)! We have had some fun adventures and I can't wait to write the next chapter in our adventure together. God is planning a path for us that we can't even imagine. I can't wait!

Click on the slide show below to activate. Hover over the pictures to read the captions...ENJOY!!!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.

Christmas Ornament Party

The boys and I were invited to an ornament party to kick off the Christmas decorating season. What a fun idea and get together for the moms and all the little monkeys. We were to bring clay for the ornaments and of course those cute little paws that leave prints all over our windows at home. It was such a cute idea and I was excited about having their little hand prints to hang on our tree year after year. I even had grand plans of making some for all the grand and great grand mothers.

This is where I should have known better:) My two monkeys HATE having their hands dirty...the rest of their bodies, their clothes and my house, they could care less. Their hands are a different story. So needless to say we painfully got a hand print out of each of them...sorry grand ma's, no luck in getting any more.

If only I had pictures of the process... but it took two of us to do it and lots of bribing with cookies and candy. I am sure the neighbors thought I was torturing my two...oh the lungs they have. The things we do to our kids:) I got my two precious ornaments though...aren't they cute! It was WELL worth the screaming and the boys love walking by the tree and seeing their hands. After all, their hands are only cute and little for so long.

I just love them!

Meghan and Olivia. Thanks Meghan for the help, I'll bring ear plugs next time:)

The boys sharing their snack with Olivia

Oh so close to a cute Christmas picture...

Almost...

Maybe next year:)

If you are looking for a fun mom and children gathering...this was perfect! Everyone brought their own clay. We all used Crayola Model Magic. It requires no mixing and air drys. Don't buy the Model Magic Fusion, it is too sticky. One pack made my two ornaments. Walmart, Target and Michael's carry it. We rolled out the shape we wanted with a rolling pin, pressed the kids hands and then made two holes at the top with a pen for the ribbon. So easy and such a fun memory to have. Meghan and her friend hosted the event and provided drinks and snacks for the moms and kiddos and fun Christmas ribbon to hang our ornaments from. I am already looking forward to this annual event.

Still a No Go...year 2

Santa Clause is coming to town....

Welllll, it didn't go quite any better this year. I really didn't expect it to though. Neither one likes new situations or new people for that matter. Not quite sure what made me think a guy dressing in a red suite with a beard would make it any better:)

Parker: "Woooow, it's really HIM...He IS real!"

The mothers of multiples club here had a children's Christmas party and of course Santa was there. This is the most "real" Santa I have seen yet. He really was picture perfect...well, except for with my two!

Santa was WONDERFUL with the kids. He would come by and say hello and keep moving if he saw the kids were not up to it. He would wait for the kids to give him the "OK" before touching. I wish I had my camera ready when we first got there. He was kneeling just around the corner when we first got there greeting the kids. Parker was so cute as he kept peeking around the corner to get a look. He eventually even gave him a high five! MUCH improvement after last year. Peyton however kept backing up saying "back, back".

We found a seat at the table and began our snack, coloring and crafts. The boys were able to watch Santa move around the room and eventually let him get close enough for me to grab a few shots.

Peyton giving Santa the side glance... not so sure about his close proximity. In a "scary" situation he ALWAYS turns his head away and then cuts his eyes to see what is going on. So funny to watch.

He finally felt good enough to turn and look at him.

Parker not so sure anymore...doesn't Santa really look just like you would picture him! Sweet face, real beard and rosy cheeks! Sure wish we could have gotten a traditional sitting in Santa's lap shot with the boys. Maybe next year!

Peyton waiving "bye, bye". Shew, he is gone now!

Parker and Gi Gi (Chris' mom) making an ornament.

Peyton and his ornament... "I do it myself"

Yep, this was as close to sitting in Santa's lap as Peyton got. I even took new trucks for Santa to give the boys in hoping it would "bribe" them to get close. Only close enough to get his truck and then make a mad dash far away.

Parker checking out his new truck.

"Maybe this Santa guys isn't so bad after all...think I'll just stand by him though, no need to get all cozy with him."

It's different trying to "force" an almost 2 1/2 year old into his lap than an 18 month old. Last year was a first and was just cute and funny. Santa wasn't going to get hurt...this same scene could have resulted in many bruises, a bloody nose and several broken bones this year. For all involved we tried to keep it to a dull roar this year. I do have to say, looking back at the Santa we saw last year.. he was pretty darn scary looking. I think I would have screamed too! But this year...come on boys, he was so sweet and cuddly...Oh well.

The party was at a local library so we went to read some book after it was over. Of course the books the boys picked out were about trucks. They LIVE for trucks! It was a really cute book that I want to find a copy of for us. It was an alphabet book with every letter representing a different type of truck. Clearly, they can learn their letters this way!

Reading the SAME book with Gi Gi...what is it with toddlers and their repetition? :)

As close as I am going to get of a picture of them in their "Christmas outfits". The don't sit still for much...pictures is not one of them. Chris likes to call these outfits their "dresses"....they are Jon Jon's Chris, and they are precious on them. They can't wear them for long but by golly we are going to wear them for now:) I think they are sweet. He loves that term:)

Speaking of sweet!

Our motto for visiting Santa...Try, Try again. We will see what next year holds.