Feature Friday: Tales of a Shared Womb....Scarey Similarities

Side note: Took this picture ourselves in Vegas. Not the best picture ever. Teri is on the left and Micki is on the right (It's the only one we could find with us both together that we haven't already posted, since we both LOVE having our picture taken so much)

Same as last week, this color is Micki, and this color is Teri.

We have some funny similarities as adults (It's really kindda scary sometimes actually).

First, we are both nurses. Our love is labor and delivery. What better thing than to see a new life come into the world. Unfortunately for Teri she can not get on in labor and delivery in her small town (ocassionally I do get to float there, and I work on Pediatrics a lot now, so that helps fill the need).

Our names don't rhyme, obviously, but our husbands do!

Now on to our kids. We each have 2. Our older ones were both unplanned but a blessing none the less. They are both girls, and were the same weight, length, and head circumference and were born 2 weeks apart. Now here is the difference Micki had hers naturally with no drugs (nutso I know) and Teri had a c-section after laboring and pushing for hours and a trial forceps. Then our second children were born when our first were in kindergarten because our husbands were not ready for them before that (I was actually not ready at first, because of my experience the first time, then my husband was unemployed, then he was finally ready). They were both planned but our husbands forbid us to tell eachother we were trying to get pregnant because they didn't want the other one to plan a baby at the same time. lol Sometimes our "twiness" gets on their nerves. (They should so know by now that we don't keep secrets from each other very well). So we ended up getting pregnant a few weeks apart anyway. Of course, the second I was pregnant I told Teri. And she laughed and said that they were trying too. She came down to visit when I was about 6 weeks pregnant and we went to our first Bon Jovi concert (cuz Bon Jovi is our secret boyfriend lol) and Teri was probably pregnant and didn't even know. She was so sad I was pregnant and she wasn't, it broke my heart. But it all worked out. So the boys were born almost 6 weeks apart. Hooray!! It's been so much fun for my mom because it's like she has 2 sets of twins. The kids actually love to dress alike and call eachother their twin cousins. They all look very similar. You would mistake them for siblings if you didn't know. Although, Micki's daughter and Teri's son have very similar personalities and vise versa for the other 2. It's so much fun!!!!!!
Both of our inlaw families think it's hysteical how much a like our kids look. When were were home visiting my hubby's family for the holidays, they kept commenting about how much the picture of Micki's son on their Christmas card looked like my son. We love it!!! It has been so much fun having kids together.

You guys have got to have some unasked funny questions about twins. Let us have them, there are no stupid questions and we will do our best to answer anything.

Guest Day Thursday: More Quilts (Teri)

Remember these gorgeous quilts from last Thursday? Well here’s part two! During the last year or so, for their birthdays, the grandkids have all received quilts. Each focused on their favorite theme and was made to fit a twin sized bed. (Please don’t hate me because my in-laws are so awesome!)

If you missed last weeks installment of the quilts, I’ll give a quick recap. My in-laws are amazing quilters. I do have to edit a little from what I told you last week. My father-in-law did all of the hand appliqué on the blocks, and my mother-in-law has done all the piecing of the tops with the exception of my darling son’s, which my father-in-law did the top in it’s entirety. My mother-in-law then HAND quilts each one and binds the edges. Yes I did say they are HAND appliquéd and HAND quilted. Each one takes an enormous amount of time and love. Be sure you click here if you missed last week.

Here are the quilts they made for the grandkids, my kids quilts are the first two.

My daughter loves bright colors and bugs.

My son adores trains, and look at the darling sports balls the train is hauling, he loves any kind of sports ball.

My oldest niece has a beach themed room. Don’t you want to put your swim suit on and go for a dip?

I love the fabrics they picked for my oldest nephews lizard quilt. Aren’t these great reptiles?

My next niece (lizard boy’s twin, how cool is that, another set of twins in my family), LOVES Tinkerbell.

This Ancient Egypt themed quilt was made for my second nephew who is fascinated by this theme. The center panel was cross-stitched by my father-in-law and then my mother in law designed the rest of the top around it.

this darling canine quilt was made for the Pharaoh's sister. I think she will make a great Vet some day, she loves dogs and all animals as well.

This darling Spring themed quilt was made for my youngest niece. She has more of a pastel room than my daughter, and her mom loves frogs. Doesn’t it make you want to get outside?

This one was made for the current baby of the family (although that baby is almost three). He is a fisherman and loves anything fish related. I just think this is the cutest thing ever.

Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me feature your beautiful work. It’s amazing!!! You are both so talented and have put so much work into the homemade gifts that you give all of us. Don’t think your hard work goes unappreciated. I am particularly glad that you took me under your “craft wing” and taught me how to fly. You were the first to encourage me creatively, and I still look to your for inspiration.

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Ice Cream Pie Yum!!

This is a recipe our mom made growing up. Until recently we hadn't really made it, but have rediscovered how delicious and easy it is!!

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup white corn syrup

2 cups honey nut corn flakes (we can only find plain honey corn flakes now)

1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

Chocolate ice cream topping

Chopped nuts

Melt peanut butter and corn syrup together and mix into corn flakes. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 9" pie plate. Spread ice cream over mixture and freeze. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with chocolate topping and nuts over slices. If making a 9"x13" pan double the recipe.

Hints and tips from us: I made the double batch and used half chocolate ice cream and half vanilla and the chocolate was a huge hit. So you can use whatever kind of ice cream you want to. I also served mine with butterscotch, chocolate, and carmel. Yum!! Loved it with slivered almonds!! For the ice cream soften it for about 10 or 15 minutes and put it in a bowl and make sure you can stir it. Then stir it and spread over crust.

Jumped the gun

I jumped the gun for tomorrows post....sorry if anyone got a preview. lol That's usually Teris job, but I guess it was my turn.

Tadpole Tuesday: Fishbowl Cupcakes (Teri)

Micki gave me the best cupcake book ever, it’s called Hello, Cupcake. The cupcakes are absolutely darling. A while back, we had some friends who’s fish died, so we decided to take them some cupcakes (okay, I was looking for an excuse to make cute cupcakes). This is what my daughter and I managed to create. Aren’t they darling. They aren’t exactly the same as the book, but they were a lot of fun to make all the same. There are a ton of others that I want to try, but none that I have been brave enough to do yet.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to tell you that we are being featured today as Blog of the Week on the awesome Kathy's blog Creative Home Expressions!!! Troll on over there and check it out. She has an awesome blog. If you are visiting from CHE, THANKS!!! We love to have new visitors and followers.

Mystery Monday: Cleaning Products

We thought today we would share some of our favorite cleaning products with you.

Micki’s Favorites:

I love to use all natural cleaners that work great!! I know I am being preachy but they really are better for you and the environment. They are also better for my son who has asthma. These 2 are ones that I use everyday. The Mrs Myers Clean Day I use on my counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms. The lavender is my favorite scent, but I like the lemon verbena too. The Holy Cow window cleaner I use on all the glass and mirrors in my home and it works great!! Smells great too!! I do not care for the Holy Cow multipurpose cleaner. It works well but smells really bad. I am really into the way my cleaners smell, because if they don't smell good, neither does your home (she forgot to tell you, especially when you have to cats, sorry Mick, had to add that).

Teri’s Favorite:

I LOVE Method brand multipurpose cleaner. I use it on my counters and table. It cleans well, smells good, and is better for the environment. I agree with Micki, if your cleaners don’t smell good, your house sometimes doesn’t either. I haven’t jumped on the natural product bandwagon as much as Micki has (or as much as I should either), but I do like it when I can use less harsh cleaners. Here’s what the company says about their products (I took this right from their website).

All method products contain natural ingredients. When you see the word "natural" on a method label, it means that 100% of its functional cleaning ingredients - things like soaps, detergents, solvents and enzymes - are either found in nature or derived from natural sources.

We use natural and naturally derived materials from renewable or abundant sources wherever we can. If we can't find a natural ingredient to get the job done, we'll use a safe, green, man-made version instead. In all cases, we only use ingredients that have passed through a comprehensive green and health screen: ingredients we have confirmed to be totally safe for people and safe for the environment.

"Natural" is still not a standardized or regulated term. So while we could, we won't call a product "natural" if even one of its functional ingredients isn't natural or naturally derived. When it comes to labeling our products, we hold ourselves to a high standard because we believe that a natural cleaner should actually come from nature.

The mystery: What are your favorite cleaning products?