A Dad And His Twins

Twin Adorable - J - Twin Beautiful

 

This picture is pure love, it really is.  J adores these two trouble makers.  As we got out of the van to head into the restaurant for lunch they both reached up to hitch a ride from dad.  He is such a great dad, bending over scooping them both up into his arms. He is that way with all of his kids.  He just loves them, without conditions.  He will fight with them as they grow up and he will not always respond with logic (especially late at night) but he always adore them. I know that all of my kiddos will never have trouble understanding the Father's Love that we receive from God.  J has set a beautiful example. 

Our Very Own Certified EMT!

I can not even begin to share with you how proud of our precious Pooker we are!   

Yep that is right.  Pooker is now part of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. 

She worked so hard for this.  It looks like "just a certificate" but it represents so much more.  I see hours and hours of hard work.  I see a passion for helping others.  I see tons of skill combined with real usable knowledge.  I ask you, if you have been in a car accident, who do you want to show up?  I have been there.  I was once in a horrible car accident and found that that my rescue workers helped me find peace of mind in a crazy situation.  I see that in Pooker.  I see her offering real help to those in need at the time they most need it.  If that pretty face came to my rescue I would instantly feel at ease and rightly so.  She is super qualified, like I said we are so proud!!!!!

This remarkable young woman is currently pushing herself in the levels of EMT to become a full fledged paramedic.  I hear that she is still wanting to continue with a nursing degree and end up on a LifeFlight Team.  That would be so incredible.  For now we celebrate this outstanding accomplishment. 

Only God knows where Pooker will end up but J and I know that she will give it her all and we hope that she understands that we are very proud of her.

Way To Go Jumba

No training wheels!  Yep, another big kid in the house. 

Twins get some fun Gifts

These girls are so loved.  Twin Beautiful's God Mother gave her this Holy Mary doll for Christmas.  The lady that hand makes them had a back log so she received the gift just now.  Both girls love it so much.  Mrs. W did a great job with this one.  Then the L family decided that the twins would look great in these cute new jogging suits.  Mrs. L was right, they did look super cute!

 

After playing with dolls for an entire afternoon the little ones decided to hide in my closet.  At lest they are wearing neon orange and were not hard to find.

Adorable on left and Beautiful on right.

Thank you to everyone that is so generous to these precious little ones.  We are so blessed to have such great friends that enjoy the girls as much as we do.  Thanks Mrs. L and Mrs. W we love you both!

She's Been Stabbed

For five entire months we did not have an allergic reaction.  This was huge and apparently caused me to forget how dangerous it really is for Sugar here in Houston .  I was busy trying to figure out the Roku before a day of homeschooling when I heard Pooker walking down the stairs and talking loud enough for the rest of us to hear.  "No, mom is not reacting yet, I will see if she want you to go to the hospital closest to the campus or another one."  I thought to myself what an odd statement, why would I care which hospital someone goes to.  This is when I began to slow down my processing skills completely.

 

           Pooker:  "Mom, Goobers stabbed Sugar! Where should they go?"

 

My thoughts:  What could Sugar have possibly done that would have upset Goobers enough to stab her. 

 

           Pooker: "MOM, where should they go?  Sugar has been stabbed!"

 

My thoughts:  Another school stabbing and my daughter was the target, why isn't an ambulance taking her. I have no way to check the news now. 

 

           Pooker:  MOM!!!  Which hospital should she take her too, you know because of her allergies?

It all started to click and I felt so stupid. 

 

 

It was "Thai Week" at the college this week.  On Wednesday this meant free Thai inspired foods for the students.  Sugar got out of class early and went to the cafeteria with her friends. She asked before going into café and the volunteer said they didn't have any shellfish. As Sugar stood over the steaming shrimp rolls she knew she was on trouble. Goobers epi(ed) her a few minutes later.

This allergy is so extreme. She never touched or ate anything, she just smelled the steaming shrimp. I didn't speak to anyone, so my drive to the hospital was so long.  I had no idea if the epi had helped this time.  As it turns out each of the kids thought someone else was texting me.  I was so relieved when I got there and found both my girls breathing just fine and enjoying the great excuse that they had to be missing classes.

Apparently Goobers got to Sugar just in time to help.  To encourage the kids to not wait around for someone else to inject the shot we offer an incentive.  $50 to whoever gives the shot, including Sugar if she gave it to herself.  I am worried that she did not inject herself but she is right, I don't understand what it is like or what is going through her head. I do know that she must get over her fear.  She has too many reactions to not take care of herself.

Goobers tells a cute story (only because Sugar is OK) that she could see right away what was happening and she just grabbed the pen and jabbed her without hesitation.  A monetary incentive goes a long way for an out of work college student.  Sugar is finally able to breathe clearly and takes in a huge deep breath and as she exhales she exclaims, "Hey you get 50 bucks now!"  Dad's response to owing Goobers $50, "Best $50 we could ever spend!"

I am just so relieved that Sugar is OK!  We are blessed beyond words.  Also a little upset that the school did not warn her not to enter the cafeteria.  She even asked and was given bad information.  That scares me.

Need TV Watching Advice (Please offer a comment)

So how much TV do you watch?  How much are you willing to pay for it?  Do you watch it live?  Do you record and catch up? Do you stream?

This is how we were feeling.  We have always felt very attached to our shows.  We thought it was a must.  TV is an essential, right?  I know that sounds silly but we thought so.  The idea of letting go never crossed our minds.  We are not one of "those" families that hates all things of the world.  I do not believe that TV is evil.  Our family has bonded over our love of certain shows.   J and I have found it to be a crucial part of our parenting.  We have watched TV with our kids.  When things come up in the show we talk.  We have always had a world full of lessons on had as we start our evening family time.

There have been a couple of things that happened lately within the shows that we love that pushed me into cutting the cord.  I see it as a new adventure and the rest of the family sees it as a punishment.  I really am not sure if we will make it.  I do admit that calling and canceling our service was fun. Our budget will enjoy the changes I am sure.  I am embarrassed to say that we have been spending about $130 a month for the convenience of turning on the TV and having a show there all ready.

I am writing this after one day of switching.  Dad was out of town last night and texted me about a cool show he watched from his hotel room last night. Ouch, we don't how to use this new thing yet and he was rubbing it in.

Roku, we went this method but I am not sure why. I am beginning to wonder if a disk player with the streaming options would have worked just as well.  This is where you come in.  Do you stream? How do you do it?  What channels or apps do you think it is important to pay for?  Give me a list of great shows that you have enjoyed as a family. 

This little box (about the size of two hockey pucks stacked) has a lot ridding on it. (It was a great deal for the one time purchase of $79 so I am still ahead for the first month if we can make this work!)  So this might be the right decision.  We might still be able to have TV without the high costs and crazy shows that we don't want to support but we are not opposed to TV?  Where does that leave us?

 

I was lost last night trying to decide what to watch and how to watch it.  We have Netflicks ($7.95 a month) and have enjoyed that for years, it is wonderful for older shows and movies.  We are also Amazon Prime ($79 yearly) members so that gave us more options.  Honestly we joined Prime because of the free shipping for Amazon.  I was amazed at all the shows that does open up to us.

 

BUT, neither are great for the latest TV shows and we discovered that many of the channels are subscription only.  So what do you watch, how do you watch it?  We love all kinds of shows from SciFi to Period Pieces to the latest Disney.  So I need recommendations to search out.  I would also love to know what channels or apps you subscribe to.  (Is Hulu Plus worth the minimal costs?)

 

This picture might show all that is possible but to win my family over I am going to need some help.  I don't want to be so old that I refuse to learn new ways of doing things, but help!  I feel lost when it comes to TV.  How do you watch sports?  How do you catch up on the news? I know this is all possible, but I am lost.

After you stop laughing at me - go ahead I deserve it - please leave me a comment and help me out or at least recommend your favorite movies or shows! 

Reading Time

 Jumba loves his baby sisters so much.  I love watching him read to them. 

 Twin Adorable then tries to reread that story by herself.

Twin Beautiful comes and sits down to hear the story.  I did not understand their words but Adorable was reading out loud to Beautiful and they were enjoying the story.