Wow, my boys are four years old!!

I can't believe my twins are 4 already. Seems like a year ago they were babies learning how to walk and say their letters! Now they're reading words, building with blocks, and have such personalities. Yesterday was their birthday, we celebrated as a family. Hubby took the day off of work (how awesome is that?!) and we took the boys out for chocolate pancakes for breakfast, then we all played glow in the dark mini golf. It was so fun! We used their birthday coupons to get free scoops of ice cream for them, then they went to Publix and were each given a birthday helium balloon and a cookie, free of charge. Publix rocks! We had taken them to Toys R Us over the weekend, and as always they didn't have what we went for in stock, but they did find some awesome Mario pull back racers and were very happy. They got balloons there too!

What surprised me the most was that both boys took the time to read each tag on their presents, to find out who they were from (they only opened ours, the rest are for their party this weekend). They said thank you to the gift giver before opening each present, I was shocked! They are such sweet boys. We have done something right :) Now if I could just figure out how to get more time in each day to share with my family... ha!

Cat Scratcher renewed!

We picked up a huge homemade cat scratching post off freecycle a few years ago, and boy have our cats loved it. We noticed the sisal rope had torn off half of the bottom, so I bought new rope and rewrapped it. Holy cow have our kitties gone after it! Way better than buying a new post for $200+ :)

Dentists - are they car mechanics reincarnated?

I used to go to a very expensive dentist, who was awesome but really expensive. We used to call the office "the dentist to the stars"! He really is amazing, has done wonderful things for my less than perfect teeth situation, but the cost was a ton and then we moved and he was farther away... well, I found one closer to home that has good reviews online. I went about a year ago. He fixed the veneer that fell off my baby eye tooth. Got my teeth cleaned 4 months ago and he immediately started harping on me about when I was going to get my baby tooth pulled and have an implant put in for $4000+, and when I wanted to schedule an implant procedure for my missing molar, which he quoted at around $6,000. Um, never? Let me first say I have had braces twice, retainers and now have a retainer with a fake tooth in it to replace a molar I never formed (gotta love genetics). I have the retainer because I do not want to spend $10,000 just to have two unimportant teeth replaced - just so I have a full set. I have already spent at least half of that just on braces alone, and I know plenty of people who are missing teeth here or there and live perfectly happy pretty lives. Most people don't even notice when someone is missing teeth, unless they're really visible gaps!

Another thing this dentist showed me was the white lines between some of my teeth on my xray. He told me they were cavities forming and I needed to come back in two weeks to have two of the "bad ones" filled, and floss twice a day and use mouthwash daily to try to "reverse the damage" on the others. Said I would most likely have 9 cavities that needed filling, all between my teeth. I was devastated, I don't have any cavities except for in my baby tooth (yes, I'm 32 and still have a baby tooth). I just couldn't stomach that and haven't gone back for my fillings.

Well today I took Big Kid to the orthodontist for a consult, his adult eye teeth have stalled because his baby teeth are in the way. They confirmed they need to be pulled. While there I realized he has white lines between most of his molars - so I immediately asked if they were cavities, because no one mentioned them at last week's cleaning! Both the orthodontist and my son (who shadows a pediatric dentist because he wants to be one someday) told me that white spots are where your teeth touch on an xray, and dark spots are cavities forming.

So is the dentist I went to who wanted to fill "all my cavities" a joke or what? Everyone who wrote reviews of him online said the office was wonderful, I know people who take their families to the same office! I feel like a mechanic just tried to take advantage of me because I brought my car in for an oil change, and they tell me I need a transmission. The difference is I know cars very well, don't know dentistry at all. Now I need to worry about crooks in our health care industry?! Greeeaaaat.

Freecycle.org ROCKS again!

I have been using a little tikes picnic table in the twins' school room, for them to use for puzzles, school work, reading etc. Well I thought it was a great idea until I realized they sit next to each other most of the time, not across from each other, and the bench was bowing under their combined weight! Time to put it outside for summer use. The same week I realized the picnic table wasn't working out someone posted an Ikea Mammut table and chair on freecycle! I jumped on it, and now we have a really nice table with two chairs and two stools. It took a little Mr. Clean erasing and some lysol then pledge, but the table and chair look absolutely brand new now. I bought two yellow stools to use when guests come, otherwise the stools work perfectly for reading near our bookcase. I always say it but I'll say it again - freecycle ROCKS!!!!

Publix Apron Meals

My 12 year old loves to make Publix Apron Meals. He grabs new recipes every time we go grocery shopping, and makes them almost every time we have the ingredients and will let him. We always help, he's not up to cutting up chicken and such, but he watches and learns and makes most of the meal. Tonight he made us an amazing Hunter's Chicken with white rice and corn. He hates mushrooms, but as we're figuring out he likes them in Apron Meals! He ate the mushrooms and the diced tomatoes in the dish, happily. I will admit I cannot stand mushrooms of any kind, but once I pushed them aside the meal was amazing - and I mean it, my 12 year old cooked an amazing meal with some help from dad!

I have been so happy that he wants to cook at all, I bought him the little binder to put all the recipes in and he has quite a cookbook now. We put stars on the recipes that taste good and throw away the ones we don't like, and he probably has 70 to 80 recipes in his book already! It's such a nice way to learn how to cook, all of the aprons meals are super easy to prepare and you can watch the Aprons chef make it in the store, and try hers, if you shop around lunchtime.

Granted most are not written as gluten free, but as long as you know your ingredients you can easily make most of them gluten free! Tonight's meal was gluten free by nature, very healthy dish. Can you tell I'm really proud?!

Did anyone else make a New Year's Resolution?

I have always thought resolutions made just because a new year was starting were silly. Well, this season I made one for myself, just because it felt like the right time. I have promised myself I will practice my pilates and yoga ball workout at least twice a week, today was my first day of the new year doing it. I have a great dvd I watch to help me stretch and exercise, but I have never done it with any consistency. It's time! My twins are turning four and while I'm not gaining any weight I'm certainly not losing any, and I want to feel better about myself. I don't have bad self esteem, I just haven't liked my middle too much since having twins. I'm hoping a little toning will help me feel better about looking down :) Happy New Year everyone!!!

On a brighter note I hit Target's toy clearance yesterday and found some great deals for the twins' birthdays. Yay!!! The clearance is all at once this year, last year it was tiered and I had to keep checking back, but got awesome deals at 90% off - not this year!! They threw everything on clearance either 50% or 75% off and said that's it. Must be the economy?