Snowed-In

The biggest blizzard since 1982 has decided to greet us today with a total lockdown of all businesses, except...guess what??? Emergency Rooms. That's right.

We will be lucky to see Russ by Thursday night.

This is our front door step. The shrubs on the left are 4 feet tall.

Our first Halloween in Missouri

Okay, I know it has been a while...we had some weird stuff going on with security and for that I decided to make the blog private for a while. Halloween was great fun for all of us. We took the babies to a party for kids their age, then went to a local grocery store here to trick-or-treat and then went home to go door to door in the neighborhood. They were so funny in both of their costumes...yep, both.  They had a party at school also, which was during the daytime and at night here it gets really windy and cold right now, about 35-40 degrees at. Therefore they needed two costumes. Last year Russ and H carved a pumpkin outside and this year we decided to move the party inside with a fire and do that again.  They love Daddy time and are very interestesd in pumpkins.  We decorated the front yard with all sorts of Fall stuff, and they helped. Here are some pictures of them doing some of these things!

Here is hoping all of you have enjoyed your Fall, but it looks like ours is on it's out of town.  The first snowfall should be in the next week or two!

Atkins No. 3

Lately the discussion at our house has spanned from "Will we have another baby in the next few years," or "Should we be content with our two little sweeties?" It's funny to think that we are even trying to "plan" this out seeing how well planned out the last two were.  Since we change our minds DAILY we decided to see what Mister H thought of this discussion we were having over Sunday football yesterday.

Mommy:  "Harrbear, do you think you would like another brother?"
H:  "No."
Mommy:  "Do you think you would like another sister?"
H:  "No."
Mommy and Daddy: "Okay, well I guess we know how he feels"
H:  "Mommy, I like Sissy."

Poor guy thinks we are trading Sissy in for a new model.  I love how he reminds me to say things differently so that his mind can understand.  He is the sweetest little dude....and quite comical at times.

Today we got a package from Russ' parents.  Mr.Steve had grown some pumpkins for the babies and they mailed them up to us. Yep, mailed us the organic pumpkins! They were so excited to open them one at a time.  B also got some really cute pink leather boots. Here is a picture of them playing with their new most interesting toys.

Every girl loves new shoes :)

He was so proud of his pumpkins. He even carried them out to the porch and positioned them two different ways to find apparently what he thought looked just right.


And here are some recent pics of them playing outside. The weather has changed into autumn and today it was 48 this morning. Crazy Missouri weather. These will be the last of them playing outside without bulky coats.

The Crew

The Lone Ranger

I promise the children do own shoes. This time they escaped my wardrobe grasp before they made it out the door.

We lost Toby this past friday. Luckily, we did find him after hours of searching and neighbors help. Thanks to you guys for sending out the search party. Toby has been around since the beginning of our little family, so we sure were sad to think of him being gone forever.

Back to School, Daddy

Now that we are both working full-time and have extra funds (woohoo!) this week Russ will begin the two year journey to acquire his BSN. We laugh that we both will be a hundred before we ever get the degree, but he is starting tomorrow! Yay for him! I'm so glad that he will have yet another great accomplishment for his resume.  He thoroughly loves hospital administration and respects the job of a RN, but has many ideas of what he would ultimately like to do, like Assistant CEO.  There have been a few positions Russ looked at this last job hunt, and he realized just how many more options he would have with this added two years.  He has just a few classes and it is completely online (Definition: I will be typing papers).  The curriculum  is about 3 or 6 hours every semester so that he can work while finishing it out.  I think I am more excited than he is, but all together we are ready for him to get started.

MY Birthday!! (a few days late)

When I was a little girl, I thought I knew how things worked (I'm laughing at such juvenille thoughts as I type), girls grew up and married boys, their fathers walked their daughters down the church aisle...and there was an order to things, first came love, then came marriage, and then came an overpriced rediculously complicated baby carriage.

But when I grew up I realized that is not necessarily how things worked. Girls can marry girls, boys can marry boys, people can get married in the Bahamas, and kids can come before love and marriage.

It took me 27 years to figure out who I wanted to be...and what I've learned is it's a choice that you make EVERYDAY about who you want to be and who you want to be it with. I had to learn to appreciate what has happened in my life to bring me to this point and let go of it. And it means to be willing to comit with no guarantees. It means by knowing and accepting my reality, I got that fantasy I had always dreamed of :)

I like this place in our lives. It's nice to have something to be so proud of, and for people to be proud of what I've accomplished.

Thanks for all of the Birthday wishes, it means a lot to know you still remember :)

Love, Love, Love
Paige

From Tobes to Rock-Dawg

We here at the Atkins house have a medium to large place in our hearts for our nephew-dog Rocky. I spoke with Mommy today and she told me you were turning the big S-I-X. Toby had to jump online immediately to dig up old pics of you from past visits.  Found one! And, we wanted to thank you for taking care of all of your girls this past year. Being such a big man in the family takes a lot of work...maybe that is why you need sooo much sleep.  Know that we love you, no matter what old spaghetti fragrance you supply to the room, and we are thinking of you today. Loves to the Rock-Dawg   :)

You are a beautiful, stinky creature. Happy Birthday, friend!

Our Family's 4th

I love Missouri! Yay! Those words tasted a bit funny coming out of my mouth/head....who EVER would have thought, right? Yep, I admit it, it's growing on me.  Just looking at how much there is to do here, and all of the new nice developments going up all around I am really starting to feel at home in the err-huh, Mid-West.  Laugh yee all who doubted me :)

As we appreciated our rights and freedom to live a life of just liberties, we also played at a "Water Pad" after a morning full of park fun in the sand and climbing rock walls. Man that was exhausting to type, I can't imagine how tired the kids were! We enjoyed our weekly Saturday Farmer's Market visit (where we pick out our freshly butchered cow yummies and organic veggies), took a wagon ride with Toby, and grilled hamburglers with a side of homemade ice cream and Fireworks...and by fireworks I mean Party Poppers and snapper throw downs. WHOO! The Atkins really know how to party. Maybe one day soon we can have REAL firecrackers, and let me just say these folks do it BIG. If you have ever been to Rockets Over the Red, you know how awesome a show can be...this state has a "Rockets" show in every neighborhood! We put the babies to bed and just sat in our papasan chair together to watch everyone's show. Thanks Mid-Missouri for the free fireworks :) Needless to say, the babies slept until 900am on Monday.