Edinburgh…

Once upon a time, two people in love, fell in love with a house and decided they needed that home…they wanted to make a house and home…and they did…they wanted laughter…fun…family…love…little feet…no rocks on the concrete and no blade of grass out of place (this is true, not whimsical fairy tale)…BBQ’s in the back yard…Christmas Parties with good food…little kegs of beer and bottles and bottles of wine…don’t forget bleached grout in the kitchen (not a spec of brown could be seen)…baby showers…little cries…late nights of breastfeeding and watching re-runs on HGTV…Super Bowl Parties…Book Club…tears…good byes and hellos…welcome home…romantic dinners on the patio…first steps, giggles, words…and everything in between…

THIS is our home:

THIS is where love made us a family of 5:

THIS is where I would lay on the grass with my 3 babies and blow bubbles and laugh:

THIS is the tree that Jim planted…I mean, he removed the old ones, fertilized the ground, dug a hole, brought a new one from the store, bought a special barrier so that no grass would grow in the rocks…THESE are the parts of our lives that I miss…

It’s not just a house to me…it is home…it is love…it is the friends and family who share it with us…of all things I miss the most (and that list is LONG)…it is being in my home with my family and friends there…knowing that if I need something to do, we can just pop over to Mimi & Papa’s or call Christina to meet us at Starbucks or a couple's night out with Tony & Casey or a call to Nessie to walk to the park with us or KK for some laughs, a Pride Parade AND a good haircut or Becky for some coffee cake or Tina for a pool day…or having Grammy & Grampy down for a vacation and cooking a big BBQ in the back yard…or calling Bob up and saying, “I miss you…I’m buying you a ticket and you’re coming next week.”…EVERYTHING... with ALL of us…yeah, we are loud and boisterous and a family of boys who think getting naked for a bath is “getting sexy”…(blame LMFAO)…but we love…we love hard and right now…we are MISSING YOU ALL HARD…We take pride in our home, but we take more pride in our family and friends…Thanks for loving us…

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I don’t know where this came from…I was only going to post a few pics and say a blurb about how good our house looked…but, clearly, I am missing you…and as I sit here with tears rolling down my cheeks and snot dripping out of my nose (with a chuckle as I write that, because if you know me well, you know that I couldn’t leave that out…AND if you know me really well, you’ll know just how hard it was to leave a picture of my bed out when I said “This is where love made us a family of 5!”)…bwah ha ha ha…

Edinburgh Street + Love = The Kochels

School Time…

Sniff sniff…double sniff sniff…My babies are going to school…

Let me begin by saying, if you know me, you know this decision totally sucked…(so, if you know me, I wouldn’t have to tell you that, so really, it’s for the people who don’t know me)…I love having my babies home, sniffing their toes, hearing their giggles and taking them on runs…and both times I’ve decided to enroll in school were out of “necessity”…(Zachary was 2 1/2 years old and I was alone and 30 weeks pregnant with twins, in the desert…so he went 2 days per week so I could go to the Dr. and have a little rest time while I was baking those twins in my belly)…Now…I live in Cambodia…and I was planning on waiting until January to start them…but stupid me HAD to go back to the states this summer and then come back here…and realize that my boys need more…more interaction, more play, more fun, more playgrounds and basically, just stuff to do.  I waffled with this for a long time…I was only going to start them in January because of work…but I’ve started working sooner and I just felt like they were bored sitting at home watching a movie after they sat in a stroller for an hour while I pushed them.  So, Dad & I decided that they could go for 2 days…the “curriculum” requires a 3 day enrollment, so we opted for that and off we went…

This was easier this time because:

• they have each other
• I’ve actually left them overnight on different occasions
• they are used to having another person around to help me out
• they loved the school every time we went to check it out, they never wanted to leave

This was harder this time because:

• I don’t want them to grow up too fast, these days are precious
• THEY ARE MY BABIES. Period.

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All weekend, I was talking about their new school and Brandon would pick up his lunch box (that we bought in Honolulu and have carried all over the world with us) and say, “Mama?  School!” with this big grin on his face…Trevor pretended…he would just say, “Yeah.  School.” No enthusiasm (which you will see later)…

Mama had to do some planning so everyone could get out the door by 7:30 fed and dressed (only 2 requirements)…

Their first day went like this:

We got up, excited, carried the lunch box around the house all morning, talked about school, playing, toys, friends, Zachary’s school, no “MY SCHOOL” (Trevor), Brandon just kept saying “School” with his big smile, which shoes to wear, who got which shirt (superheroes or trucks???), which shorts, what’s the snack…

and just like that, off we went…

I actually did get everyone’s hair done (which has no point in Cambodia…especially on a toddler…it was done only for their baby books…all future photos will not be so GQ.!)

They were excited and chatting and happy to drop their brother off and happy to arrive at their school…

Mama stuck around for a 1/2 hour, playing and pushing (on the swing…), snapping photos and digging in the sand…

Brandon just kissed me and waved good bye, but Trevor was not too happy…he is back to being the mama’s boy…but he went and played with the turtles and when I came back to get them, both were smiling and playing and eating a snack…

(We won’t talk about how mama felt…)

Day 2 went even better…

THESE are the faces I love…THESE are the faces that make each day better…

…I think we are going to be alright…just another step in the direction of, “I’m a big boy now…”…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABIES…

Wow…I’ve had SO much to catch up on…but my babies turned 2 the day after we got back from the states (thank you lap infant fees…saved us $2000, but probably took about 7.3 years off my life…).

So my babies…my babies are TWO…I can’t believe it…seems like it was just yesterday…That this is what I knew of you…little Trevor hugging Brandon’s head…in my belly…I cried when I saw this…I cried…it was so precious and sweet to me that in my belly you knew each other and loved each other and touched and cuddled…and today, Trevor is still the cuddler…and Brandon is all over the place…as you were in my belly…can we say breech, head down, transverse, breech, transverse, head down…yeah…you were really ALL over the place! 

…and I was sitting at home watching TV waiting for you to move…and you did!!

I was so scared to have two babies at once…I wanted to know I could love you both and I was afraid…hoping that I just had enough love…that’s what worried me…not the diapers, feedings, late nights, extra clothes, crying…none of that came to my mind…I wanted to be sure you had enough love…boy was I naïve…because I loved you both the minute I laid eyes on you…and I should have been worried about those long nights and feedings…sometimes, I’m not sure how I made it thru those days…but LOVE YOU…is nothing I ever question.

MONTH 1

We had some CRAZY nights…but you are so precious to me…my babies…my loves…

MONTH 2

MONTH 3

OH.MY.GOD…look at those yummy rolls!!!…and look at these big boys at 2…

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You boys make our family complete…COMPLETE…your personalities, your voice, your giggles, your fake laughs, your mimicking your brother (especially Trevor)…your breaking into a dance at any given time…Brandon…Here’s what I know…

My life and this world is better because you are in it…

Trevor…you love to kiss and cuddle and snuggle and sniff your blankie…you are stubborn and sweet at the same time…you love to “talk”…you love watermelon and Cars and Spiderman…you have big feet and a squishy little butt…you love to laugh and don’t sleep as much as Brandon…you are smart and know blue, purple and yellow…you call out for me every morning and light up when I come into the room to pick you up…you like spicy food and being feisty…

Brandon…you love your monkey and you like to have everyone sniff its tail while you suck on a baba…you shuffle around with a little hop and skip and break into a dance when you hear a song you like…you love your sleep and you are happy when you wake up to just lay in your bed and give me the biggest smile when I walk into the room…you love noodles and rice and being with your brothers…Elmo and Mickey Mouse are your fav’s…you like to watch Trevor try things and wait until you have it down before you try it yourself…you seem to perfect it in your mind and then never fail when you try…you are witty and feisty and give lots of love.

Together…you are a team…nothing stops you when you both want something…if you ask for something for yourself, you always ask for one for the other…you always share and are very good at taking turns (except when it comes to the water hose)…you give loves to each other and cuddle up on the couch with your lovies and each other…

What I know…I couldn’t live without you…your faces, your smiles, your peaches, your runs, your stinky toes and dirty diapers; your starfish hands, your little voices, your dances, your songs, your temper tantrums…your heart, your bright eyes, your toothy grins and your fights…you and your big brother make my life everything.