A Tale of 2 Beds - Part 5

In case you missed them, go back and read the Tale of 2 Beds Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

You would think after giving very specific directions (part 2), removing all of the furniture (including bed frames in part 3) and duct taping their diapers (part 4), my kids would run out of ways to get in trouble. Did I mention my kids have amazing problem solving skills? UGH!

Here my kids have stacked their mattresses and are sitting on them. In the corner of the photo you can see the closet door with the child proof lock on it. This will be important for later.

Here I opened the door to take a photo without warning. That's why sweet daughter is flying through the air onto her mattress (which isn't supposed to go by the window). This does give you a good idea of just how high the window is, which will come into play in a future Tale of 2 Beds.

This is what happened when the kids finally figured out how to open the childproof lock on the closet door. Inside the closet we had a set of cheap white shelves with blankets, extra sheets, other bedding type things on them.

Above the shelves is the bar for hanging clothes with a permanent shelf above that. I'm not tall enough to reach things on that shelf for perspective. On that shelf we were storing a couple of empty boxes, the blinds we took down from their room, and other random hardware (from their bed frames for example). 

I'm guessing they climbed up the shelves to get everything else down, but I'm not sure how the shelves held the kids up. These are not sturdy shelves and were positioned so if they fell they would fall out of the closet. After this mess, which I made the kids clean up by themselves, we removed the shelves and almost everything from the closet. Now in addition to the empty room, they have an empty closet.
A Tale of Two Beds - Part 6

Best Toy Ever

Take one box, cut a door and a window. Let the kids go wild!

The box lasted for just over a month before it was completely ruined and recycled.

Wordless Wednesday

Ok, this may require a few words of explanation. There are no kids in the post, but there is a very clear map explaining how to view this exhibit in Birmingham. If you look closely you will see that the instructions say to start with wall 1, then walk to wall 2, continuing on to wall 3, and finishing at wall 4. This room was maybe 6ft by 8ft, so not exactly a huge room. Without these instructions and the map of how to proceed you might get lost. I am a rule follower and always check the map.

Travel Tip: Maps aren't just for driving. hahahaha

2012 Review

I started this blog in January 2011, so this is the perfect time to see how far I've come in the last two years.

In 2011 my monthly page views ranged from 196-579.
In 2012 my monthly page views ranged from 436-2,653.

Seems like a huge improvement to me. Welcome to all the "new" readers of my blog.

While most of my readers come from the United States (where I'm based), I'm thrilled to have large numbers of readers from United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Russia, France, India, Germany, China, and South Africa. I even have a few visitors from Israel, Sweden, Netherlands, Malaysia, New Zealand, Cayman Islands, and many other countries.

While most of the searches that lead to my page are about twins, parenting, or pregnancy, I'm amused that my 4th highest referral search is for a homemade zamboni. I am nothing if not a zamboni expert... um, not.

I had 47 blog posts in 2011 and an amazing 103 in 2012. This has gotten the blog some attention from advertisers and people wanting to do giveaways. Most I have rejected because they aren't a good fit for me or the blog. A few I have agreed to, which explains the giveaway for a DVD, different Activision video games, and a couple of books. I'm already working on more giveaways in 2013. I have yet to make money on this blog - I also haven't spent any money on this blog. That should change in 2013 with a few deals I'm working on. You might see more advertising on here and/or on the facebook page, but I promise that will be in addition to the normal content, not replacing it. I love being a stay at home mom, but I get paid in hugs. It's really awkward to try buying things at the store with hugs, so I hope you will stick with me as I work on finding a balance.

There will be some big stories coming up on this blog in 2013. The Tale of Two Beds will continue (ugh, I'm ready for this to end). Remember the post about our 7 trips in the kids 1st year? Everyone thought we were crazy. Just wait till you read about us taking twin two year olds to Italy, Poland, and Germany. That trip includes planes, trains, boats, cars, buses, trolleys, and more. We now know all the tricks to traveling with two year olds.

Here's to a great 2013 for all of my readers. I hope this year you smile more. I will have more posts with strange and funny things my kids say to help you meet this goal.