6 Years Ago

6 years ago Eric and I got hitched! We treat ourselves to a nice meal every year on our anniversary. Last year we spent it apart, so this year we decided to do it up!!!!! We went to a really nice restaurant in Southern Pines called Ashtens. For our readers who are golf fans, Southern Pines is right next to Pinehurst! We had a very delicious meal, and believe it or not, we didn't talk about the boys at all!!!

This picture looks dark, but I tried to take a picture of the front of the restaurant.

Silly Boys

Our boys are funny kids all the way to the bone. No idea where they get THAT from...

We've been working on utensils lately, and they are doing really well! Connor has started trying to poke his own food with his fork. Brandon dipped his spoon in his applesauce tonight and put it in his mouth. They had pizza for the first time tonight and liked it! When they eat all of their dinner, I give them a chocolate mini eggless muffin and B loves them...Connor not so much. Last night, Brandon reached over to Connor's side of the table and stole half of his muffin with out him noticing....sneaky sneaky.

After a trip to hh gregg to finalize the purchase of a new fridge...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME...we came home for a bath and gel time. B's hair goes into a mohawk really easily...here are some pics


Connor's isn't long enough, but I tried anyway.

Chillin' on the couch

I've really missed being able to chill on the couch and type on the laptop!!!! Eric took it with him so we could communicate easier, but it's nice to have it home! While he catches up with his parents, I thought I'd make a quick post while I watch the season premiere of Project Runway.

Eric was given the day off today. He has to report for formation at 630 tomorrow, but it was nice to chill today. He had a few military errands to run, and then we ran a few together. We got new cell phones today! We now have Verizon instead of Sprint. If anyone has problems reaching us on our cells, let me know because we had our old number ported. We also signed a contract on a new A/C unit today. It should be installed sometime next week. Since the contract is signed, this new company will service our current unit with no extra charge if it goes out before the new one is installed. Not a bad deal!

I made egg free chocolate cupcakes for the boys and let Eric give them chocolate for the first time. Brandon inhaled it, but Connor wasn't so sure. He would lick it, put it in his mouth, take it out, put it back, put in on the table, lick it..etc. He ended up eating it after about 2 minutes or so.

Home Again...for the Second Time

Eric arrived home safely this afternoon from his second deployment in the last 4 years. No more deployments for at least 3...WOO HOO!!!

Here's our sign welcoming Daddy home
Connor being goofy
Brandon...finally not crying. Poor baby cried all morning until I gave him his pacie...serious teething issues right now.
Here's a picture of the waiting area...lots of people
We walked to the next "hanger" and let the kids get out and play. Fortunately, it wasn't a super hot day!
Here's a picture of the plane coming in. We aren't allowed to take pictures of the plane once it lands or the soldiers in formation until they start marching into the waiting area...so no more pictures of that!
The boys passed out waiting for Daddy. We left the house at 930 and we didn't see Eric until 230, and then didn't get back to the house until 530...long day!

Here's a video of the troops marching in. Eric is in the very front, but it's hard to pick him out. I thought it was cool that they had a live band playing!



Here's all of us
Eric and his boys. They played with him tonight like they are best buds! It was nice to clean up dinner without having to stop every minute to see what the boys are getting into.

That's it...I'm exhausted from the day. Don't be surprised if we don't answer our phones or make any posts for a while. Lots of catching up to do! Thanks to everyone who supported us!

Operation Preparation

Eric should be home this week some time, so we're in the middle of Operation Preparation. I had a long list of things I wanted to get finished before he came home. Some of those things included...

Welcome Home signs...DONE
Mowing the Lawn while simultaneously killing the mower...DONE
Cleaning his office and getting rid of my junk I allowed to accumulate there...DONE
Vacuuming out both cars and wiping the drops of milk from sippy cups...DONE
Stocking the fridge with more food than I've bought in a really long time...DONE
Scrubbing all hard floors Cinderella style, on my hands and knees with bleach...DONE
All laundry...DONE
Cleaning our bedroom so it doesn't look like the local laundry room at Victoria's Secret...DONE
Scrapbooks caught up...DONE


Needless to say, I'm totally wiped out. I don't have a lot to do tomorrow, and I plan on chilling all day other than getting another estimate from an A/C place. We managed to get the A/C up and running, but I don't think it's going to last long. I got one estimate on Friday and realized this unit and duct work will cost us as much as I paid for the first 3 years of my college education...mild heart attack. I'm going to schedule a few more estimates. Once we decide, we're going to go ahead and do it before this old one konks out on us again. The unit itself is 17 years old and it's been good to us for the last 4 years. Oh well!

Here are a few pictures of the boys...playing outside...

...and eating at the big boy table! I don't miss those high chair trays at all!!!!

ThermoSTAT

We need a new one...STAT!!! Some of you know that our air conditioning is on the fritz. That's the nice way to put it. I'm not going to go into the long story about what happened, but a worker came to look at the unit and it hasn't worked since he left. We're HOT HOT HOT! Here's a picture of my thermostat reading 85 degrees at 10 last night.

Needless to say, I put the boys to bed in diapers only. Here's their new favorite place to sit while they brush their teeth!
We aren't sure how "broken" our unit is, but it's the original unit on the house...17 years old. Since we added on, the unit is a little small. We were planning to replace the entire heating and cooling system in the spring, but we might be doing that now! I'm bummed that Eric might have to come home to a HOT house after being in the sandbox for almost 14 months. The boys are at MDO to enjoy a little air while I'm here waiting for some estimates...none of which have showed up. If any of my readers are local and have extra fans or a random window air unit sitting around...HOOK A SISTER UP! There's a small chance that it won't need to be replaced, but I'm not holding my breath...that would be nice though.

If the unit isn't working by dinner time, we're going to pack up and head to Theresa's house for the weekend. What's one more set of twins in one house!!! I'm so glad I have friends who will stick their neck out for me in a time of need. We'll probably spend the better part of the afternoon outside since it's cooler outside than it is inside. It rained really hard last night so the ground is cool and wet. The boys will love it!!!

Crazy Day

Today started out as just another Danko day..until B busted his mouth!

I'm honestly not sure how he did that! He never fell on anything, wasn't chewing on anything, and wasn't crying! I looked at him and noticed blood. I gave him a cold wet washcloth to chew on and his water cup and he's was fine. He's a tough kid.
The boys have figured out how to get on the couch without any help from me. Lord help me! I was waiting for the appraiser to come so I couldn't put them down for their nap, but they were SO tired. Brandon was just laying on the couch chillin'.
While the appraiser was in the backyard, Jade and Rena were in the house. The boys were trying to give Rena their pacies. So cute.

I had a plumber and an HVAC guy out today to fix some little things. The HVAC guy did something to our A/C unit, so we currently don't have any A/C. It's about 84 degrees in the house! I called him and he said he would be out after his next 2 appointments. In my opinion, he should have come to us first since he screwed something up. Instead, we're going to have to live in the heat until about 6 or so. The boys went down for their nap, but I have a feeling they will be waking up soon...SWEATY! Hopefully he can come out and fix it real quick, or the boys and I might be looking for somewhere to stay tonight.