The Zimmer Zoo

Eleven Kids Under 1

Posted on August 10, 2008 by Nancy

That’s how many were at our BBQ today. Let me restate that. Eleven kids under the age of *one*. Plus 7 kids between the age of 1 and 3.5. And then 17 adults. (One of whom is 35 weeks pregnant – with twins.) What a crazy fun time! 🙂

(From the left) Mitch, Oliver, Michelle, Sydney, the back of Andrew's head, Liam, Craig, Kris, Owen's Behind, Gabe, the back of Logan, Zach, Emma, Annie, the back of Stephanie

Mike’s a part of the Dad’s of Twins spin-off group of my Mom’s of Twins club, so he invited them all to a BBQ at our house. (They have about 25 members as opposed to the 250 members in the mom’s club…so it’s do-able.)

(clockwise from the left) Melanie, Walter, Ruben, Sophie, Jeff, Kristin, Mike, Aaron, Sophia, Stephanie, Burke, Alex's head, Logan

(clockwise, starting from the left) Walter, Melanie, Ruben, Sophie, Jeff, Kristin, Mike, Aaron, Sophia, Stephanie, Burke, the back of Alex's head, Logan

So Mike did his typical: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Kielbasa, chicken, asparagus, beans, and potatoes. And the other families brought side dishes and desserts.

Alex, Cordelia, the back of Steve, Paul

I’m happy to report that we did not lose a single kid! LOL And there were no major injuries. And only a few minor melt-downs (Logan being one of them).

Stephanie's Son, Stephanie, Sophia, Mike, Kris, Katie, Andrew, Michelle, Sydney

Ethan, Stephanie, Sophia, Mike, Kris, Katie, Andrew, Michelle, Sydney

We heard a lot of thunder rumbling, and we got sprinkled on a little bit (so we gathered under the canopy and stayed pretty dry), but the rain mostly held off, and so did the lighting. Woo hoo!

Emma, Oliver, Annie, Mitch, Stephanie, Stephanie's Son

Emma, Oliver, Annie, Mitch, Stephanie, Ethan

I tried to get everyone…but it turns out that my aim isn’t that great. (If you’re not pictured – or if it’s just the back of your head, I’m sorry!! Also, if your twins are mixed up in the captions, please let me know…)

Logan, Elizabeth, Cordelia

I had a great time meeting everyone and chatting about things. And I know Maggie made a friend…

Andrew and Maggie

Filed under: kids, Mike, twins | Tagged: BBQ, DOTs, MOTs | 6 Comments »

Bread

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Nancy

I was putting together a few sandwiches today and it occurred to me – in this crazy world of “do not use if safety seal shows signs of tampering” – that there’s no real way to tell if bread has been tampered with. Well…with the exception of Pepperidge Farm bread that’s also wrapped in plastic.

So…why are we so trusting with our bread? Why do we look for the safety seals on everything under the sun, but we don’t require our bread to have anything more than a twisty-tie?? If I were going to tamper with something…I think it would have to be bread.

Filed under: deep thoughts | Tagged: bread, safe? | 4 Comments »

Hot Crossed Buns

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Nancy

I got up to use the potty around 3:00 last night. Imagine my surprise when the toilet seat was HOT! What the..? The toilet was filled with hot (and I mean hot) water. Hot enough that there was something whistling inside the tank because of the steam escaping.

I woke Mike up and he tinkered quietly for a bit (heaven help those who wake the kids up in the middle of the night!!) After about 1/2 hour or so, we decided that it was pretty strange, turned the burner off to the hot water heater (tankless), and went to bed. This morning, there was still warm water coming out of the bathroom sink! Uhm…how’s that possible with a tankless water heater?

I called our trusty plumber (a father to twins himself) and he said he’d come out around lunch time (he lives around us, so that meant he could go home for lunch).

About 3 hours later I thought I’d try to brave a lukewarm shower and noticed that the hot water tap was turned ALL THE WAY ON. We have the type of tub/shower with 4 valves: hot, cold, tub, shower. So the water can be on, but nothing comes out. Ah HA! This explains much! A quick call to Mike to verify that he didn’t turn it on this morning (nope) and a quick call to the plumber to verify that this could cause it (yep) and we’re back in business. (Doesn’t explain the warm water 4 hours after we turned the burner off, but I’m okay with that…)

Chalk another thing up to user error. At least this time we didn’t spend millions to figure out what was wrong 😉

Filed under: house | Tagged: bun warmer, user error | 4 Comments »

Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Nancy

Candid Carrie sponsors this one – head over to her blog and find LOTS of links for bloggers who’ve joined in! (You can join in too!)

I’m going to have to do two pictures again this week…so hard to do just one when you’ve got twins!

Anyway … these were both taken on the same day in June of 2006. I’m not sure what we did to put this face on BOTH kids…but I’m sure it wasn’t anything good 😉

Don't mess with me.

Don't mess with me either.

Filed under: FFFF, twins | Tagged: don't mess with me | 8 Comments »

5 Things Friday

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Nancy

Join Cat in her 5 Things Friday! (Cat – it’s really hard to think of topics!! 😛 )

5 Things you might or might not know about
My Family and Why I’m Proud of Them:

My Husband. There are so many things…I’m so proud of him as a Daddy – he does such a wonderful job with the kids! He’s so patient with them (and with me!) He’s a cancer researcher – which in itself is kick-butt. He works so hard, but his family always comes first.
My kids. All of them are just so smart already – we’re in so much trouble! I’m proud of how far Burke has come in the last few months. His speech classes have paid off – his talking has just taken off! And he’s gotten a *LOT* better at controlling his moods (I’m sure being able to express himself has helped.) Maggie is just such a little girl. She’s gotten much better at listening lately. Logan continues to impress me with his little mind. He’s not even 1 and he’s already figured out which buttons to push on my cell phone to make it unlock (he even called Aunt Cathy all by himself the other day LOL)
My Dad. Gosh. There are so many things here too. My Dad went to Yale, and then Harvard…and then became a farmer. . . and then sold all the cows and got computers and started his own business. And when my parents divorced, he got custody of all 4 kids – and made it work. He even remarried and had another kid.
My Mom. There are a bunch of things here too. It’s sort of strange to say, but I’m proud of her for recognizing that she couldn’t stay with my dad and doing something about it when not many people would. She made sure to stay in our lives – even when she and her husband moved to Brazil for a few years. And I’m proud of how strong she’s been since she lost her husband a few months ago.
My Siblings. All of them! You’d think we’d be more messed up than we are – but I think we all turned out really well. 🙂 We are all super successful in work (even Meg – who is 17 next month – had multiple jobs this summer.) And we all keep in touch – a LOT. I don’t know of a lot of “bigger” families who can say that.

So…a sappy 5 this time around, but it had to be done.

Filed under: 5 things friday, kids, Mike, sibs | Tagged: family, proud | 1 Comment »

Ode to a Migraine

Posted on August 7, 2008 by Nancy

You suck.

Filed under: deep thoughts, me | Tagged: migraine | 2 Comments »

Is it Just Me?

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Nancy

I’m sure when I was a kid my parents wondered why every single stuffed animal I owned had to be on my bed. (And I’m not even kidding). I doubt that I ever told them…but I’ve come to realize that I have this strange thing where I feel sorry for inanimate objects! I was so afraid of hurting one of my stuffed animal’s feelings, that I’d just have to have them all around me; I couldn’t bear to think that one would be sad if I chose another one. (The movie Toy Story has since proven my theory…)

I had thought that I had suppressed these feelings, but I realized in the grocery store the other day that I felt really bad for the apples I passed over in favor for the non-bruised ones. Will these apples find a good home? Are they sad because *I* didn’t pick them? Geez, Nance. Get a grip…

Filed under: deep thoughts, iijm, me | Tagged: get a grip, pick me! | 7 Comments »

Way Back When-esday

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Nancy

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one.

These were taken in May of 2006…the twins’ first taste of spaghetti!

You got a little somethin' on your face, Maggie...

...uh, you too, Burke...

Filed under: WBW | Tagged: spaghetti incident | 1 Comment »

Highlights of a Wonderful Visit

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Nancy

If you read my blog semi-regularly, you know that my in-laws were here for the weekend. We had such a lovely time! Here are a few highlights:

A late plane! We brought the entire family to the airport to see Pop Pop and Mop Mop (as the kids call them)…waaaaaay past all of their bed times! The plane was about 3 hours late. Luckily, we don’t live that far from the airport and we knew it was late, so we waited at home – not at the airport.
A swing set put together! Pop Pop and Mike spent about a day (2 half days – they got rained out the first day) putting the swing together. The kids *LOVE* it. Today all three were sliding down the slide. Yep – all three. Maggie would slide down and wait at the bottom. Then Burke would come down and “kick” her (not hard) and they’d both wait at the bottom. I’d put Logan up at the top, hold his hands, and he’d scoot his little butt down to the edge and slide down into the other two “kicking” them. Lots of giggles, and LOTS of times running around to do it again.
YUMMY grilling from Mike…even though it poured half way through (and I mean poured – sheets coming down) complete with thunder and very close lighting. We had “Pig wrapped in Pig” (bacon wrapped pork chops), kielbasa, chicken, potatoes, and green beans. Have I said YUUUUMMMM yet?
YUMMY restaurant food. We hit the Summer Shack. That Jasper White knows what he’s doing. 🙂
Lots of great conversation.
Lots of hanging out in the back yard playing.

Filed under: food, kids, Mike | Tagged: in-laws | 1 Comment »

Success!

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Nancy

The twins did an excellent job with the potty training today!! An entire day in the same outfit…incredible. 🙂 Here’s to hoping we’ll have another day like that tomorrow.

The secret? Setting a timer for a half hour and having them sit on the potty every time it goes off. heh They’re both also getting really good at letting us know when they have to go. WOO HOO! Think of the money we’ll be saving if we can move away from 3 kids in diapers….

Filed under: potty training, twins | Tagged: diapers suck, potty training | 3 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »

The Zimmer Zoo

Affiliates

You are visitor number

Eleven Kids Under 1

Bread

Hot Crossed Buns

Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta

5 Things Friday

Ode to a Migraine

Is it Just Me?

Way Back When-esday

Highlights of a Wonderful Visit

Success!

Recent Posts

Don’t feel like commenting?

Email Subscription

Categories

Archives

Blogs I Don't Have Time to Read But Still Do

2012 Book Reads

I’m All a Twitter