Ghosts

Remember when I indirectly tore Doug's eye open the other morning when I thought I saw a ghost? Well, ever since then, I can't stop thinking about them. I used to think I'd be cool with seeing a friendly ghost, but nowadays, I'm not so sure I could handle it. Even the thought of Casper gives me the shivers (save Casper [the real boy] from the 1995 classic movie of the same name; I totally loved him).

You already know about my fear of the monster under the bed, well the fear has just gotten worse since the ghost sighting. I am ashamed to admit it, but sometimes, by the light of my cellular phone, I check the closet and under the bed before I can safely crawl under the covers. Even then, I'm uneasy. Every time I close my eyes, I have this vision of a witchy woman coming for my soul like that crazy broad in Drag Me to Hell.

Sometimes at night, I watch the boys sleep via the camera in their nursery. I know, right? I'm as creepy as the witch broad. Anywho, last night I was watching and I swear I saw an orb! For those of you who do not have a husband whose favorite show is Ghost Adventures, an orb is an unexplained, typically circular flash of light that is a supernatural phenomenon letting you know that an invisible spirit, ghost, angel, etc is hanging out near whatever you photographed with your camera. Luckily, Doug was upstairs and went into the nursery about the same time I saw that ghost, so all was well. (Julian had woken up, and Doogie went to rock him.)

This got me to thinking. What would I do if a ghost tried to mess with my boys? I'd have no other alternative but to squash my fear and channel my inner Winchester and kill (again) some ghosts. Another good use for my cast iron skillet.

Make These For Your Husband: Another Picture of Food

I made these today and they were, to borrow a term from my friend, scrumpdelicious! Douglas loved them, and your husband (or you) will love them, too. Make them for him. He deserves it, right?

Jalapenos stuffed with a cream cheese and cheddar cheese mixture and wrapped in bacon. 

Step 1: Get your husband to chop the peppers in half because you don't want to set your skin on fire (he'll forgive you later when he eats these). Poor Douglas made the mistake of scratching his nose with jalapeno juice on his fingers. It burns! It burns! Sweet Mother of God, it burns!

Step 2: Stuff those babies with the cheese mixture (1 block of cream cheese + shredded cheddar cheese [I think I used most of a block]).

Step 3: Give you sons juice boxes. This will occupy them for a few minutes. Sure, you will have a mess to clean when they realize they can pull out the little straw and use the box of juice like a squirt gun, but you need a few more minutes for prepping the peppers.

Yes, he has a juicebox and a sippy cup.

 Step 4: Wrap the peppers in bacon because bacon makes everything better.

Step 5: Pop them in the oven at 400 and let them bake for 30 minutes; then broil for 5 more minutes. Voila! The tasty appetizers are done! A perfect treat to take to a party! 

And here are the boys partying it up at Sarah's. We forgot the bibs, so they were on team skins for supper. After dinner, well, before and after dinner, Jules pretended he was a dog. He so enjoyed Liam's crate!

Little Red Convertible, Hugs > Bacon, & Friends

Doug's ride.

Yesterday I drove the Outback to work. However, Doug needed her to haul stuff. He called me up at work to ask which vehicle I would like to swap out with---the minivan or the convertible. Because I am me (a major nerd), I wanted in my heart to say the minivan, but in an attempt to be cool, I chose the convertible.

When work was over, I headed out to the parking lot to hop in the little roadster. I was feeling pretty hip, so thought I'd go wild and put the top down. I am part vampire, but from work to home is only a 14 mile trip, I could do this!

Cruising out of the parking lot, up the road to the entrance ramp to the interstate, I was loving it. So much so that I thought I'd be walking in the door and telling Doug that his car now belonged to me. Then I hit stop and go traffic. This little roadster (p.s. am I using that term correctly, roadster?) is a 6-speed. Ugh. My foot was about to fall off from using the clutch so much. I knew there was a reason why I

My beautiful whip.

switched to an automatic. And boy! That sun sure was getting toasty. I could feel my flesh burning.

Thirty minutes later I could finally see Kentucky. "Woohoo!" I shouted as I thought I'd soon be home. Nope. Some moron had managed to wreck on the daggone bridge. How do you do that? It is a straight shot! A nice, short, little bridge. Irritated, I followed the line of cars heading across the river and hoped this wouldn't take too long. There was a cop directing traffic and things were moving...moving a little too fast, I guess, cause when I zipped by the cop, he scolded me, "Slow down, this isn't a race track!" I was in second gear!!! Come on, man!

Anyway...

Huggy Bear.

This morning Jonas decided that he was going to sleep all day. Actually, both boys slept in, too bad I still woke up at 8 o'clock. I took the opportunity of 30 whole minutes to myself to get a shower! Look at me, living it up! Jules woke up around 8:45, happy as a little lark. We went downstairs and waited for the Bear. I put some cartoons on for Julian (yeah, I know, TV is the devil...whatever) and headed to the kitchen to cook him some breakfast.

I was putting some bacon on a cookie sheet (I do not like super crispy bacon, so I make my bacon in the oven), when Jonas came to say hello. He had finally woken up, and Doug had brought him downstairs to me. "Good morning, buddy!" I greeted him with a big Mama smile. He returned a smile and reached out for me. "I will get you in just a second, let me put this bacon on." And the next thing I knew, those little arms were wrapped around my neck! Oh, he had just given me the sweetest, most wonderful hug ever. Doug summed it up best when he said, "Some things are better than bacon." I, of course, immediately abandoned my bacon and snuggled my Bear.

The wild men had a busy day. We hit 3 of our favorite spots: Half-Priced Books, Sam's, and Skyline. I will have to make a video of them at Half-Priced Books the next time we go. They are such a riot! Julian had a big grin on his face the moment we stepped inside. "Books!" He proclaimed with glee! We bought the last 2 copies of Baa Baa Black Sheep by Melissa Everett. That's their favorite book and their first copy is on it's last legs.

Julian is happy!

Laid back. With my mind on my sammich and my sammich on my mind.

Cathy and Seth, Jenna and Jameson, and Omie G. came over for supper and hang time. The boys loved playing with their friends. Seven years ago when I first met Cathy and Jenna, I never thought that some day we'd be hanging in my living room watching 4 little dudes run around. Awesome!

The best shot I could get. Seth, Jonas, Jameson, and Julian.

Art, Cardboard, and Possums

The finished product.

Today I decided that my boys were ready to fingerpaint. I am hoping that a lot of Pelstring and a lot of Cornett come through, and that they don't end up like their Mother--struggling to draw a dadgum stick man. Sometimes when I have these bright ideas (the ones that involve activities and babies), I don't really think things through completely (I know, you are shocked). But this time, I was prepared. I had considered everything. Put a smock on them to protect their shirts, stripped them of their pants (paint will wash off of little legs, but who knows if it'll come out of those pants, and clothes ain't cheap!), put a plastic cloth on my table and secured that, and made sure the paint was non-toxic, cause you know those suckers were going to eat that jazz (and they did). 

So, after all that prepping, it was time to paint. I thought they'd have a magnificent time. I mean, I was encouraging them to play with a slimy substance AND to wipe it all over the place. *Sigh* They painted for about 3 minutes before they started screaming and wanting down. 

You're so mean, Mama! Why do you make us paint?!?!

Doug came downstairs and upon seeing the art said, "Did you put goggles on them? What if they had rubbed it in their eyes?" (One thing I hadn't considered.) My response, "I don't know! I guess their eyeballs would've fallen out. It's non-toxic!"

Not in the eyes, but definitely used it to spike his hair. Punk rocker!

Those boys. They have such a hard life. Do you know what a money pit they are? We spend all kinds of money on books, toys, and food, and look how they show their appreciation. They play with an empty apple juice jug and eat cardboard. Oh, but at least I know they love their books.

A Bear and his jug.

She never feeds me. I have to eat shoe box lids.

Jonas in a basket.

I love them so much. Tonight I went to dinner with my dear friend, Tracy. We had a fabulous time, but once it hit 8 o'clock, I was thinking about my rotten little dudes and how I was missing putting them to bed. On my drive home, I hoped that they would be awake when I arrived. Came in the door, and Doogie read my mind, "Jules is still awake if you want to rock him." People, I just want to tell you, there is nothing more precious than rocking my little boys. And one of the cutest things in the entire world is seeing Julian snuggle his possum.

Thanks for the snuggle buddy, Eller!

Classes

We have a routine here in the Gastright house. It says we eat around 6, twins' bath time is at 7:20 on the dot, and bedtime is at 8. We're good about following it. You pretty much have to be a stickler for this sort of thing when you have 2 babies at once, otherwise, you'll lose your mind.

Anyhow, the other night, we were a little behind with our schedule. I was the chef, so naturally, things took a little longer than anticipated. After supper, I sent Doug and Dacian to do bath time while I cleaned up the kitchen and picked up the toys.

The boys had been bathed and were getting into their pajamas. As I was picking up the last of the toys, I overheard a deep discussion going on in the bedroom. Doug and Dacian were conversing about what class the boys are. That's right, folks. In case you are interested:

If we're playing by normal D&D rules, Julian is a fighter and Jonas is rogue. As far as advanced rules, Julian is a paladin and Joe is a ranger. These are accurate labels as both Doug and Dacian settled on them immediately without argument. 

The paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and order.

The ranger is a dude that isn't afraid to have fun kicking your ass if it is for the greater good. 

Just a Picture of Food

I am obsessed with zucchini fritters. Yes, vegetables are involved and yes, I eat them voluntarily. Pretty weird, right? Anyway, I've been going on about these things for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd share the recipe. You could come over for supper about any night of the week and they'll be on the table. Best served with a nice sliced, homegrown, juicy tomato.

You start with your zucchini and onion and you sprialize them. Spiralize is a word, even if I made it up. On this night, I used 2 large zucchini and 2 medium white onions.

Then you add eggs (I added 2) and some almond flour (thanks for the ground almonds, Carol).

The mixture looks like this.

You pour some bacon grease in a big pan and fry those bad boys. Remember to salt and pepper each side. Voila! Zucchini fritters!

And just for fun, he's a picture of the boys.

The Palmetto State

Let me start by telling you about my morning, not my vacation.

I was off in la-la land. I was dreaming that I was looking through a photo album (probably because I've been obsessing about my need to print photos of my children, but immediately giving up because I literally have thousands of pictures and become overwhelmed at the thought of selecting ones to print) with my friend, Emmanuela. Then, all of a sudden, she was gone and I was alone. Then I heard someone calling my name. "Allison. Aaaallisoooon." I wake up, open my eyes, and I swear there is someone standing over me. I can't make out a face or anything, just a shadow. And then I scream and clutch onto my poor, once-sleeping husband, and the figure runs off.

Remember back when one of the boys clawed Doug's eye? You know, he had to go to the doctor for it

and everything. Had to get special eye drops for it. Well, now and again his eye still hurts. This morning was one of those times. Because he had surgery this morning, he was not allowed to drink or eat since midnight. That meant he was a little dehydrated this morning and his eyes were all dried out. When I scared him to death with my screams, he jerked awake and opened his eyes quickly. The dryness made his eye lid pull on that injured eyeball and cause it to hurt like heck. "Good morning, Doug. Not only do you have to get teeth cut out of your mouth in a couple hours, you now get to be woken by your freak of a wife who has seen a shadow person, or is still mostly asleep, and is scared to death. Open your eyes quickly now, Doug, be sure to further your state of misery this morning." Poor Doug. I'm a terrible wife.

Now that I've gotten that off of my guilty conscience, let's talk about our first family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina! What fun we had! You've already heard about our journey down and the sand eater (and let me just say that Maria's comment about how sand comes out, well, she was right...interesting), so let me tell you about a few activities that we did while there.

Jules and his new buddy.

Of course we went to the beach! We found that the best time to head to the beach was in the late afternoon/early evening. You know I'm part vampire and cannot be in direct sunlight without burning (literally). Around 4:30 was the perfect time to hit it. The sun wasn't too hot and the beach wasn't too crowded. We'd head down there, Jonas would have a death grip on me, but would warm up to the fun once he had his big bucket of salt water in front of him to play with. Jules was a little cautious, you know, for about a minute, then he was off running around and making new buddies and chasing seagulls. First, he walked over to a little old lady, his book in hand. He gave it to her and stood there waiting. "Read to me, lady!" Next, he spotted a younger crowd (think a couple 3-5 year olds). He headed over there with a couple of bulldozers and sat down like he owned the beach. He stayed there a while and entertained that family. He ended his social outing with a visit to a little dude hanging off by himself playing with a truck. He had to go meet this guy. He walked over. "Here comes a little cutie." His mother said. "What's your name?" "His name is Julian." I said. "My name is Julian, too!" Said the little blonde playing with the truck. Little dudes are so cool.

The other equally delightful thing to do in Charleston after the beach is to go explore Old Charleston. The streets are lined with wonderful historic homes, beautiful parks, gorgeous flowers, and of course, the harbor. We had several days in the city:

Carol and Jovita went on a carriage ride.

Eat this cake and you will know happiness.

Doogie and I went on a ghost tour. Oh my! Let me tell you. There was the scuzziest couple on that tour. The ghost tour was 1.5 hours long, right? These two had to take about 4 smoke breaks in that time. They didn't even have the decency to smoke their own cig, they shared. Ugh, so disgusting. I wanted to snap a picture and send to KSR; they could post it when the Wildcats play the Gamecocks. This loser dude was decked out from head to toe in South Carolina Gamecocks gear. I gag a little just thinking about them. Anyway, the ghost tour was still pretty cool, despite Smoke Dawg and the lame storyteller. You can't bring down history and cool architecture.

We ate a lot of food. I had many a crabcake and the world's best cake: The Ultimate Coconut Cake from The Peninsula Grill. Before you die, you must eat this cake. It is what heaven tastes like, I'm sure. We visited Poogan's Porch one night. The menu looked fancy so I called ahead to make sure the place was kid friendly. "Of course!" they said. We got there. Man, I was so uncomfortable the whole time. We were those people, or so it felt like. But the ole boys were pretty good. No screaming or crying (they usually only cut a shine when they are exhausted or starved). They just sat there merrily and played with their cars. They hardly even dropped any food on the floor! When we left, you would've never known we'd been there. I'm not sure why I felt so out of place.

Dorking out.

Speaking of the boys and being those people...taking two 14-month old dudes on a 2.5 hour tour (that's including ferry ride) in the Charleston sun before lunch might seem dicey, but, well, you know I was in the birthplace of the Civil War (or "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The War Between the States" as the folks of Charleston referred to it), so I had to "dork out," as Doug said. I drug the family to Fort Sumter on Friday.

It actually wasn't that bad with the boys. In my mind, though, I thought my children were terrorizing everyone. Now that they can walk, they hardly ever want to be held, especially when they are somewhere new. They had to cruise around the ferry and check everything out.

Once we got to Fort Sumter, they did not want to ride in the stroller, and their little faces were

My gentleman.

flushed due to heat. I thought they might be on the verge of a tear, so, we headed to the museum, the only place on the fort with AC. Also on the tour was a group of high schoolers from North Carolina. Guess what high schoolers could not care less about? You guessed it, American history! So, they were all in the museum sitting on the floor in the entrance. Twenty teenage boys lined the walls on one side, and twenty teenage girls lined the walls on the other side. And in the middle was Julian and Jonas. Oh, did they love this stage! They were dancing and talking and clapping their hands. Doing all of their tricks! Julian was flirting with one of the girls. She thought he was coming over to give her a hug, but he snatched her iPhone and took off running! Oh, lawdy!

We got back to Patriot's Point and I just had to run in and check out the giftshop. I was in line paying for, you guessed it, a book, when this random guy said, "Are you the Mother of the twins?" Oh, no. "Yep." "They are so precious! How old are they?" I liked this guy. "They're 14 months." "Gracious! They are so well behaved." I really liked this guy.

And before I end, let me tell you, my boys were such good travelers. You know, over 20 hours of driving, I bet you they didn't cry more than 10 minutes total. We stopped at a few rest stops to let them run around a bit. The best stop was in Tennessee. We were playing cars, when a sweet little old lady approached bringing cookies! She thought the dudes were sweet and would enjoy a treat. She was right; they are cookie eaters.

This bench makes a good road.

Hanging out in Tennessee, pushing cars around.

Oooh cookie cookie cookie starts with C.

Cool dudes.

Family Vacation

Snuggle brothers.

We made it to the beach in one piece yesterday evening. We left Kentucky around 4:30 and made it to South Carolina around 3:30. We made a few stops for food and at one point when the ole boys were getting restless, we took a nice break at a rest stop. We got them out a couple of cars and a scooter to play with and they went wild running around in the field of grass.

I ran to the bathroom and when I came back, the boys had made a new friend. Her name was Rory, she was 13 months old. You know you're a twin and have a Bear for a brother when as soon as another baby approaches, you hand over your toy, no questions asked. Sweet Julian. What a gentleman! The Bear demonstrated that he could play well with others, too. When Rory jumped onto his scooter, he tried to push her (like he does his brother). Unfortunately, Rory had a few pounds on the ole boys and the scooter was in the grass, so Joe could not get it to budge. Keep drinking that milk, dude!

Once we arrived, we took the boys to the beach to let them check out the ocean. Jonas had a death grip on me the whole time. Julian was very cautious, but interested. We brought them back to the condo and let them cut loose. They were thrilled to be out of that van. Running here and there, pushing cars, reading books. You know how they do. The Mommy Monster made an appearance and Carol said I sounded demonic. Here's to hoping I am not permanently scarring my children.

This morning, after they had a belly full of goetta (yes, we packed 6 lbs from NKY), we headed back to

The Bear eating sand.

the ocean. The boys soon warmed up to the beach and started to have a good time. Julian was walking all over the place and helping build sandcastles with Grammy. Jonas was content with a big bucket full of salt water. All was well until we noticed that the boys enjoyed the sand a little too much. As in, they were eating it. Why would they do that? Jules was shoveling it in by the handfuls. Jonas, always so particular, enjoyed dipping his fingers into the beach and licking the sand off each one. 

I came back to our place and googled "babies eating sand." Looks like they are killing their intestines. Great. Let's see what they kill tomorrow. 

Grammy, Aunt Jovita, and the Dudes.

A Fun Day with the Dudes

Today was Doogie's last day at Hobson's. He'll be starting his new job in October, and until then, will be an unemployed sponge that I will support. After discussing what he'll do with his time off, he came to the following conclusion, "I guess I'll have to take my shirt off and walk around Covington." Keep your eyes open for scrap metal, Doog.

The boys must get their charm from their father. When we were out and about this afternoon, they made a host of new buddies. First, we went to Sam's. The folks always go wild for twins at Sam's, but today was exceptional. Of course, we saw the regulars (the old ladies/dudes at the entrance/exit) and the crew handing out samples and admiring the way the boys eat cheese. But the newbies were awesome. There was this HUGE dude. He had on camouflage shorts with Red Wing boots and a beard that rivaled Phil Robertson's. He came up to the boys and me and said, "Your boys are beautiful! I bet you're [nodding to Jonas] the bully!" "How did you know?" I asked. He then told me about one of his ex-girlfriends who had identical twin girls and how he could just tell that The Bear was the aggressor. He was a cool dude.

After he left, a cashier came over to greet the boys. I had bought them a couple of books, naturally,

so they were reading them when she approached. "Hi, how are you guys? You're so cute!" said the cute little blonde. The boys turned on the ham switch and started "talking" to the girl. Then Jonas handed her his book. Translation: Read to me. The girls said, "Oh, thank you for the book." But didn't read. So, The Bear and Julesy both start yapping. Translation: READ TO ME NOW!!! The girl finally took the hint, and, well, she read to them! I couldn't believe it, but she stood there and read the entire book to them. It was very cute.

Since we were right next door, you know it was Skyline time right after Sam's. There the boys were greeted with more smiles and compliments. This is how Jonas sat most of the time. You can't tell in the picture, but there were 2 parties that he and his bro were entertaining.

In case you are wondering what semi-vegetarians eat at Skyline...well, some days, you just don't feel like being semi-vegetarian.

Let me end with this. Fall is in the air, folks, and today my house smelled gloriously of fall. I baked up a batch of delicious candied pecans. Mmm. Soon as we're back from the beach, you better believe the fall/Halloween items are coming out!!!

Walkers, Vegetarians, and New Goals

Jonas thought something was hilarious.

Guess what! Both of my dudes are walkers! Julian has been walking since his birthday, but it took Jonas a little bit to warm up to it. You know, you get around a lot faster on all fours than you do wobbling around on two feet! The Bear held out about a month (he started walking a couple days after his Daddy's birthday), and now he's burning up the hardwood. Why am I telling you this? For 2 reasons: 1) Because you love my babies and are incredibly interested in hearing about them. 2) I am the world's most non-crafty woman and cannot scrapbook to save my soul. Thus, the only record of the boys' first steps is on this very blog (and probably facebook somewhere). They are without baby books. It's untelling (despite what Blogger tells me, "untelling" is a word, ask any hillbilly you know) how many milestones I've already forgotten. Someday my grown sons will come to me and say, "Mother, when did we first sit up on our own?" And I'll have to reply, "Uh..." And they will hate me.

It is now my goal in life to sort through all of my pictures, facebook posts, and blog posts to piece together baby timelines. (Good luck with that!)

Birthday cake!

In other news, I have become a (semi) vegetarian. At least for the past few weeks. Why? Well, the fact of the matter is I don't particularly enjoy meat (generally). And the meat that I do like is bad for me (Italian sausage, bacon, and hamburger), so I'm quitting it. I'm not hardcore, though. I mean, come on, you have to use bacon grease for frying. And how can you eat green beans unless they've been cooked with fatback pork? Am I right?

Speaking of food...remember when I cooked my way through the bar? Of course you don't! I only blogged about it a couple of times. At any rate, I did it. I made a new recipe a week. Now I'm on a new mission (other than the aforementioned baby timeline quest): to find the perfect cookie recipe. So, send me your best, most favorite cookie recipe! I have to figure this out before the holidays. I have a whole slew of Christmas tins that I have to fill full of goodies. I've got sugar cookies and lemon cookies covered. But bring on the rest!

These dudes aren't spoiled enough. They need me to make good cookies for them.

Oh, speaking of spoiling my children, last weekend Beetle showed me again her secrets of cornbread making. Once I procure the perfect cornbread pan (see below), the boys shall have an endless supply of cornbread and milk.

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.