Ditt and Dott: Raising Twins

New Chapter

2012-02-01T21:15:00.002-06:00

It's fun to blog about the good stuff in life. But life doesn't always unfold exactly how you imagined. Regardless of what happens though, it is taking what you get and making the best of it. John got laid off this morning. We were both expecting it and we weren't. Mostly we weren't. The company had a huge layoff early December and since we "survived" that round, we thought we were relatively safe for awhile. Especially since John landed some big costumers recently. But the company has had a reputation for unexpected layoffs so we weren't ever comfortable. But to be fair, that is typical of the "industry" he is in. So we are a bit sad and a bit surprised. But we are also excited.

Layoffs mean adventure. This is our third layoff (like I said, it's the industry he's in) so in a way we are old pro's. This is our first layoff with a house payment and kids, which does add an new element to things. Instead of being stressed out and worried about our future, we are appreciating the unexpected time together, we are hunting for new opportunities and we can't wait to see what the next day has to offer. Who knows, next month, we may be packing to move to the West Coast! Although, we'd really like to stay in this area because we have so much family here and we are big "family" people. It would be more than difficult to move away. But neither of us would be opposed to taking a great offer in other parts of the country. Like I said, it's options and adventure.

We told the girls that Daddy wasn't going to be going to work anymore for a while and that he was going to look for a new job. Which of course is true. There isn't really any reason to get sad or overly worried. Life is what you make it. They were just happy he'd be home to play more Zelda with them!

So that's my big news for the evening. I think this quote applies: Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.

Maddie and Izzie sharing some computer time.

Maddie, Izzie and Riley (making a silly face!) enjoying a "spot of tea."

Maddie and Izzie playing dress up at Riley's house.

Izzie enjoying the chicken lettuce wrap we had for dinner.

Maddie liked hers too.

John wrote me a Love Note.... and well, I just had to share. Isn't it awwww-inspiring?

Weekend Away

2012-01-30T21:10:00.003-06:00

My weekend with the "girls" was so much fun! We had a really good time, hanging out, eating too much, crafting, and playing games. We stayed up way too late and we woke up way too early for vacation. But it was a great weekend and one I'll remember for a long time.

Alison, Me and Melanie

We ate so good. Homemade breakfast pizza.

Fresh chicken salad with pine nuts and raspberries.

Melanie playing at the Activity center

Melanie working on her scrapbook.

Alison working on her craft, an H for her last name, something she got the idea of from Pinterest.

I kept giving Melanie lots of suggestions. I can't help it, I'm too bossy with crafts!

Cutting out letters for a Valentine's Towel. (See the finished towel at www.facebook.com/dittdottdesigns.)

Alison's finished H.

The girls had a great time at Nanna's and with Daddy. They got to watch Cinderella with Nanna and Popo for the first time. My reported that Izzie was beyond herself with excitement, totally getting into the movie. Both girls loved it though. They reported that they played lots of legos with Popo and read books with Nanna. They told me Daddy fixed them chicken tenders for dinner, but they were different than my chicken tenders. They weren't too forthcoming with details of their weekend, but I did get the general impression that they had a good time!

Watching TV with Daddy

2012-01-29T17:34:00.000-06:00

Daddy: I'm going to watch some TV.
Maddie: Are you going to watch the 49ers?
Daddy: No.
Maddie: Are you going to watch basketball?
Daddy: No.
Maddie (exasperated): Well WHICH sport are you going to watch??

Mommy Playdate

2012-01-27T15:05:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited! I'm going on a Girl Weekend! A mom get away, a leave the kids and hubs at home relaxation trip. Whatever you want to call it. My friends, Melanie and Alison are going to stay with me at the Holly Lake cabins this weekend. Tonight the girls are staying at my moms house so John gets a mini-vacation by himself too. Since I'm not actually on the deed to stay at the time-share (it's his parents time-share), John is going above and beyond to follow me and my friends out to the resort. He'll check us in and head back home. I can't believe how generous he is being with his time and energy! I have the best husband ever.

So what do we have planned? Not much! We plan on sleeping in and relaxing. I wonder if us MOMS can turn off for the weekend? Can we just sit still? I highly doubt it. I'm bringing my sewing machine to work on some of my towels for DittDott Designs. I think Melanie is bringing her scrapbooking stuff. Alison said she'd be bringing some project or maybe just a good book to read. Mostly the goal is to enjoy the peace and quiet, and just hang out.

The girls are excited too. Like I said, they are spending the night at Nanna and Popo's house tonight. As I was saying good bye to Izzie she said, "Momma, Maddie and I are going to have a great time at Nannas. You go and have a good time with your mommy friends. Have a fun playdate with them!"

So here's to the beginning of a Mommy Playdate!

ABC Book

2012-01-24T11:25:00.002-06:00

Izzie and Maddie having a pretend tea party.

Aunt Rhonda came over to play yesterday. We took the girls out on their scooters and bikes. We live in the middle of a pretty long street. They rode their scooters down and back one way and their bikes down and back the other way.

Maddie working on her Letter A.

Izzie working on her Letter A.

Back in the days when I was on bedrest and dreaming about how life would be with two kids, one thing I always thought we'd do was make an alphabet book together. The one I had planned out in my head was really elaborate. Where we'd glue sand to the S page and feathers to the F page and other creative endeavors. Maybe we'll still make that fancy alphabet book one day, but for now we are going to make a simple one.

We started today with the letter A. The girls traced their A, colored it and then cut out 8 pictures that started with A and glued them to their letter. They did a remarkable job cutting and both were proud of their work. Izzie wanted to jump in and start the letter B right away, but I think one letter at a time was about the attention span and didn't want her to get bored in the middle of her letter. So she just practiced her scissor skills on some blank paper for awhile. It was fun watching how the both tackled the cutting problem. Maddie cut out each individual rectangle, quickly and without too much precision. Izzie carefully cut long strips staying on the lines as much as possible.

Riley's 4th Party

2012-01-23T08:23:00.002-06:00

Saturday the girls were invited to a birthday party for their friend, Riley. We met Riley at storytime. She's the first of their friends that they met on their own. Sure, I helped. Riley's mom, Ashlea and I started talking before storytime started one day and we introduced the girls, but they all hit off really fast. Maddie and Izzie would go and sit down next to Riley during the stories. Soon they started giggling and talking to each other. We had Riley over for a playdate a couple of weeks ago and I know that all three girls had a good time.

So we were happy to be going to celebrate her 4 year birthday. It was a sweet Puppy Party. There were only 5 kids, but that was actually the perfect amount to keep in nice and manageable. The kids played Pin the Paw on the Puppy and Pass the Paw. Then of course there was cupcakes and ice cream followed by opening gifts and then just playtime in Riley's room.

Izzie playing Pin the Paw. Neither of my girls would do it with the blindfold.

Maddie sorta peeked at the last second and got her paw right on the mark.

Cupcakes and Icecream.

Maddie and Izzie watching Riley

I gave Riley one of my name towels.

Kaitlyn, Riley, Maddie and Izzie.

Sunny California... I mean, Texas.

2012-01-21T09:46:00.000-06:00

I have I mentioned the weather lately? It's supposedly January. January usually means winter in Texas. Even if we don't get snow every year, it still usually gets some form of cold. Someone forgot to tell the weather man. Yesterday it reached a nice 80 degrees outside. Last year this time it had already SNOWED. Crazy, huh? I'm am really not complaining. I LOVE this weather. It is the perfect temp for me. Not hot and not cold, just comfortable.

I was glad when on Thursday, my friend Erin, texted me and said that she and Gabe were down at the park near our house. The girls were out playing in the backyard, but we quickly jumped into the van and drove down to the park. Gabe had never been to this park before and Maddie and Izzie were quick to show him the ropes. Next to the playground equipment is a "forest" that is full of green crabapples. The girls love the forest more than the playground and usually spend most of their time playing in it collecting these crabapples. They soon had Gabe in on the fun and they had a great time gathering up a big pile of these funny plants.

Maddie, Gabe and Izzie just chilling out.

Gabe, Maddie and Izzie watching the ducks.

On a completely unrelated note, Izzie said something super funny last night and I wanted to write it down before I forgot. Again, enjoying the beautiful weather, the girls were outside on their swingset. I came out to talk to them and ask them what they wanted for dinner. Izzie jumps up and says, "Mom, we have got to TALK about this. It is important." Trying to keep a straight face from her very grown up words, I asked her what we needed to talk about. She said, "We need to talk about perhaps, the fact we NEED a popsicle for dessert, you know... after dinner." I asked her if that was was so important to discuss. She said, "Yes! It is very important." How can a mom say no to that? Especially since the "popsicle" really is just some frozen yogurt?

Then Maddie pops in and says, "We want, eggs, peas, ham and cheese for dinner." Sounded easy to me, so I went in to start cooking. Maddie follows me in and I tell her I'm getting out the ingredients for her omelet. She says, "No mom! I don't want them mixed in together! I want them all differented out!" She was talking fast as to prevent me from quickly making an omelet. I asked her if she was very sure she didn't want an omelet. With big arm movements pointing dramatically to different parts of the plate she says, "No, eggs here, peas, ham and cheese right here, here and here!" Love my girls!

Shelling Peanuts

2012-01-19T10:37:00.000-06:00

I'm putting the girls to work this morning. I like to make my peanut butter from scratch, and the first step is to get the paper off the peanuts. It's tedious. A perfect job for two 4 year olds! But I'm not a complete slave driver, they are getting to watch a Dora show while they work. (Izzie and Maddie)

Moments in a morning

2012-01-16T10:54:00.001-06:00

This morning we didn't have any plans, and you know, that is just nice. I think every day last week we had to be up and at 'em for something or other. The girls actually woke up pretty early at ten after six. I wasn't quite ready to crack my eyes open, even though I did get a good nights sleep. Apparently the girls were a bit fussy through the night and I slept through it all, John got up several times in the night! I know I've said it before, but it is worth mentioning a million more times, I have the most terrific, loving, supportive husband ever. So, like I said, they woke up early singing Jingle Bells at the top of their lungs. But they were happy so I just let them be. At around 7, they tiptoed out of their room to the family room and proceeded to play quietly for another 45 minutes. I was up the entire time, just laying in bed reading my book.

Finally, I called out to them to see if they were ready for breakfast. They told me that they were but that the needed to clean up first. Music to a moms ears I tell you. So, I got up and ready and they came to get me. Izzie told me to close my eyes and follow them. They each grabbed one of my hands and led me down the hall. Then they said, "Ta Da! You can open your eyes!" So I did. And I ohhed and aahhhed over how much they picked up. The perfectionist in me bit my tongue not to point out the one or two toys that were still out. And I'm glad I did because they were so proud of their work.

We headed downstairs to make some breakfast. A request was made for egg and bacon sandwiches, which I happily complied with. Since I use salt that is iodine free (I use real sea salt that is full of awesome natural minerals, but no iodine.) I occasionally sprinkle dried seaweed on our food. (It has naturally occurring iodine) Maddie got suspicious this morning and was insistent that the "black" spots were pepper and her eggs were too spicy. I promised her that they were in fact NOT spicy, but she just said, "I know they are!"

Anyway, after breakfast Izzie curled up on the couch with me while Maddie was off playing and we just had one on one time for a bit. I was asking her what she loved about all her family members. Some of the highlights: Nanna: Gardening with her. Daddy: Playing computer games with him, Popo: coloring with him, Grandma: her toy room. (she sort of took the question what did she love "doing" with them instead of what did she love "about" them, but I just let her be.) When I asked her what she loved about herself she said, that she loved being a part of her sister. I'm not sure if she expressed what she meant to express or if she was trying to say something different, but it still touched my heart. Then the girls switched and Izzie went off to play and Maddie and I cuddled for a bit. Maddie said she loved when Daddy tickled her, when Grandpa played with her, when Dana read to her. And what she loved most about herself was how good she was at markers. But then she told me she didn't want to talk about all of that anymore. So I asked her what she wanted to talk about. "Answering the door," she said.

About a week ago, I brought up safety about not answering the door and that only grown-ups answer the door. True to Maddie-form, she peculated on it a bit and then wanted to make sure she got the new rules down pat. She loves knowing exactly what the rules are. Maybe she'll be a Judge one day!

Then they headed upstairs to go play blocks. They wanted to make a city. After awhile they called me up to look at their fabulous city. And it was. Fabulous. I know I'm their mom and so of course everything they do is perfect, but sometimes they really impress the socks off me. They had a hospital (so they could visit mommies on bedrest who had babies in their tummy, something we did last week.) They built Daddy's work, a park, the swimming pool where they had lessons last summer, our house, their future houses where they are going to live when they grow up. They had the park, the grocery store, the library and even some statues because every city needs lovely things. (Izzie's words!)

After they showed me their city I asked them if they wanted to play a new game. I realized that I haven't done any syllable work with them yet. I told them it was a clapping game. They picked it up lightening quick. We were clapping out the syllables (with blocks) to every word and name we could come up with. It was amazing how intuitive it was for them. The hardest part was having them pronounce syllable! Izzie sort of said it like sylabub. Soon they were bored with clapping out words and we started clapping out sentences.

Now, it's not even 11 am, the girls are out playing in our unusually warm winter (it's 68 today!) and I'm supposed to be working on some graphics for PAMOM. Instead, I'm taking a moment to reflect on this incredibly serene morning I've had. I want to box it up and treasure all the hugs, kisses and moments I've had this morning.

Photo Catch Up!

2012-01-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

At a playdate last week, we caught up on giving (and receiving) gifts from Christmas and Birthday that we didn't get to do before Christmas. Maddie and Izzie are opening gifts.

Ford getting some help from his Momma opening up the towel I made him. Jake got a matching one.

Maddie, Izzie and Madison.

Jake is pulling Ford in a large Christmas package.

Photos from Mema's house. Here I am sitting with one of my cousins. I am fully ashamed to say I'm not sure who. I think I have Darian, but I'm not 100%!

John holding Daylynn (I think?) Izzie is peaking over his shoulder and Daylynn is trying to get a good look at Maddie.

I was happy, but apparently my cousin was NOT. I'm the oldest cousin at age 32, and this is the youngest cousin at age 5 months.

Izzie, Maddie and Pepaw.

Izzie (yes, she is wearing purple tights) and Maddie playing on my cousin Casie's trampoline.

My cute hubby all "geeked" out in the corner he created for himself at Mema's house.

Izzie and Maddie doing a bit of a science lesson with Mema.

Time for the night-night story! Funny story about this room. It's very cute, the room reminds me of how a quaint bed and breakfast might look. Maddie at one point during the weekend says to me, "Momma, this room is not very pretty." I asked her why and she said, "EVERYTHING is white! The walls are white, the curtains are white, the sheets are WHITE. Maybe we can help Mema paint?" I asked her what color and she said, "Well.. I think rainbow is the only thing that is going to help THIS room."

A few mornings ago, the girls and I curled up in front of the fireplace and we were all quietly reading our own books. The camera just happend to be right in front of me so I lazily took this shot of Izzie.

Decorating the mirrors we got from our friend Melanie! (Maddie and Izzie.)

Mema and Pepaw's House!

2012-01-08T21:06:00.003-06:00

This weekend the family headed down to Bryan for a quick trip to my Mema and Pepaw's house. It was a great little get away. We left early Friday afternoon and we were back early this afternoon, but we still got some good play and visiting in. Shortly after we got there on Friday, my Aunt Rebecca brought my cousins, Darian and Daylynn over to play with. They are just 5 months old and the second set of identical twins in our family! You know it just hit me that I have a set of identical cousins! I keep thinking of them as the girls' cousins because they are younger than Maddie and Izzie, but they are actually my cousins. Darian and Daylynn are Maddie and Izzie's second cousins.

It sure did take me back though, seeing Darian and Daylynn. We played baby musical chairs because they were a bit fussy when they got there and they both wanted Momma and only their Momma. So I'd hold one of the girls and she'd cry so we'd trade and back and forth. Finally everyone got settled and happy so we could get some good smiles and kisses in. Maddie and Izzie weren't too impressed with the babies. When they quietened up a bit they were more than willing to play with them, but whenever they cried, my girls took off and said to heck with them! The funniest part was when I had Daylynn for a good 15 minutes thinking she was Darian. Then I saw the spot of white hair on the back of her head and realized I had Daylynn! She has an "albino" lock of hair so even though they are identical, as long as she keeps that we'll be able to figure out who is who. I figured it was nature's way of helping my Mema out. To this day she still can't tell Maddie and Izzie apart even though she now tries very hard to do so. Since these girls live in the same city as her, Mema needs to be able to tell them apart!

Saturday I saw my girls for a few minutes, but they spent almost the entire day coloring with Mema. Everytime I'd go check on them they'd say, "We are busy mom." They did want me to go take them to my cousin Casie's trampoline. She lives next door to Mema and Pepaw and the girls love being able to bounce on her trampoline. But most of the day they spent with Mema. She taught them how to hunt for four leaf clovers and look for treasures (seed pods) in the backyard. Pepaw even took the girls out to the shop to use a hammer to investigate what was inside one seed pod. Both girls were a bit disappointed when it was "nothin' special" inside.

I got a chance to sit down and "interview" Pepaw about how he met Mema and his time in the Airforce. They met on a blind date. One of his Airforce buddies was going to spend the weekend in Mema's hometown and asked Pepaw and if he wanted to tag along. He promised him he could get him a date. So they did a double date with Mema and her sister Mary. Pepaw used to hitchhike in his Airforce uniform 100 miles to see Mema on the weekends when they were dating! As I told him, "how romantic!"

When I was a kid, every night that I spent with Mema she would rub my hair and tell me a story. My stories were always about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. But I would tell Mema what the them was. For instance, Baby Bear starts Kindergarten, Baby Bear goes to Camp, Baby Bear looses his Tooth; basically whatever I was going through Mema would weave a tale about it. (I was of course Goldilocks and Baby Bear was my best friend... who was the one having all the issues.) My mom wishes that we'd recorded Mema and transcribed her stories. She basically wrote the Bernstein Bears Books before they were a thing. She could have been rich!

But the tradition caries on and now she is telling stories to my girls. They don't stick to the Three Little Bears format though. Last night they asked Mema to tell them a story about "A Dentist and a Bad Guy. The Bad Guy is Superman." and their second story was supposed to be about "A Barber and a Dragon." Mema really had to use her imagination for those! Somehow she pulled it off to their satisfaction. At the end of storytime she told them that she was going to give them a cookie for the ride home. They said, "Mema, no more junk food. We've had an ice cream, a brownie and a cookie while we were here, that is too many sometimes foods!" She said that was a very good choice. Love when those lessons sink in!

So all in all we had a terrific visit. The girls politely told them Thank You for having us, and please come and visit us soon.... and I really hope they do!

Kidz Gym 2 and KidKraft Desk

2012-01-04T12:54:00.003-06:00

Today has already been busy! The girls had their first class of Kidz Gym 2. Last week they graduated from level 1 to level 2. So they got a new coach, Coach Michael. They were both very excited about going up a level to the "big" kid class. Maddie wanted to know if we were going to a new building, which is a fair question because when we went from Mom & Tots to Kidz Gym, we switched gymnastics companies. I didn't think the transition would be too rough for them since we were staying in the same place and they were familiar with the rules and equipment. As we were getting out of the car and Izzie started stalling, I knew something was up. Sure enough when we got into class they were crawling up my leg like you wouldn't believe. I just cuddled and reassured them until class started. Then I literally dragged them out to the floor. Where they cried and cried and cried. So we had a chat in the bathroom. I told them they were being rude to the other girls who were trying to hear Coach Michael. I told them that they did not have to participate (today) but they HAD to sit with their class quietly and listen. We took some deep breaths and went and sat down.

By the time the first part of class was over and they were on to the second part, they were joining the other girls. A few minutes after that they were high fiving the coach! By the end of class they were all smiles and giggles. They really have grown so much! The transition was relatively a breeze.

When we got home, while I was making lunch, we got a delivery. Their new KidKraft desk came in! I'm thrilled. They were having a very hard time sharing the old desk. It just wasn't big enough for the types of projects we like to participate in. Having two desks is awesome. They aren't on top of each other to color anymore. The even more exciting part is how they helped me build it. And they did a great job too. They actually were able to work the socket wrench with no problems. Now they are are already enjoying their new work space!

Who is who? Do you know? I'll answer later...

Izzie and Maddie with their new coach, Coach Michael.

Maddie with the socket wrench.

Izzie working on her table leg.

Izzie putting on washers and Maddie wrenching on the nut.

Old and New desks!

Tattling

2012-01-03T10:06:00.000-06:00

Oh the curiosity! Izzie just came up to me and said, "I'm not tattling right now. Maddie did something bad, but I am not telling you so I won't tattle."

I told her that maybe she should go tell her sister that she thinks she's making a bad choice and that maybe Maddie should go talk to me about it. So off Izzie went to talk to Maddie. I also told her that if Maddie was doing something dangerous that she could tell me and it wouldn't be tattling.
I'll go talk to Maddie in a bit, but I figured I'd give her some time to come to me first.
--------------
Later: Maddie did come to talk to me, it really wasn't a big deal... she put a toy in her mouth, which of course is against the rules. So this was more about Izzie trying to learn when it is okay to tattle than anything Maddie did.

2012 Charter, first draft.

2012-01-01T21:09:00.002-06:00

January 1, 2012. Another year goes by. I started reading some of my old posts from last January and I could hardly believe those things happened a year ago. Time really is funny that way. I haven't really sat down to think about this upcoming year. To map out my goals and dreams. I have some fuzzy ideas but nothing concrete yet. I've spent the past week working to make the house fresh for the new year. After living here for 6 years, I just need some change. Move some furniture around, perhaps get out a can of paint and work on one of the couple of rooms that haven't had color added to them. (I'm down to two bathrooms, the stairwell and a hallway. The rest of my house is a burst of color.) I love controlled change. That is, change that I create.

I'd like to go on a family trip this summer. Last year we talked about going to Colorado, but it never materialized. Which is okay. But this year I'd like to make sure that some sort of trip really happens, even if it isn't in another state. I also want to go camping this year. I'd love to go for a full week, but I'm not sure we can swing that with the girls first camping trip. Not to mention John isn't 100% sure about camping. He promised me one night. Hopefully he'll have so much fun that one night he'll stay another, or at least promise to come back again in the future.

I'd like to get fit. Some days that feels like a pipe dream. I have a hard time prioritizing exercise. There is always an excuse available. I need to put myself first for awhile.

I'd like to sell more of my art/crafts. I love creating, I have a harder time selling. I'd like to get paid for the creative works I put out in the world. That probably means saying NO to some volunteering I've done in the past. I used to get paid to design, now I give it all away. I read somewhere that freelance doesn't mean free and I need to think about that.

This year I can't watch the girls blossom from toddlers to kids. Now that they are four, their toddler days are long behind them. Their personality is bursting through and I know that this year is going to be a very exciting year. Sometimes I just love watching them when they don't know I am looking. I love the people they are becoming. Everyday they are more and more independent with wishes, dreams and wants all on their own.

This year, I want to also focus on my marriage. I have the most wonderful husband ever. I think it is easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget to tell each other that. I won't get too sappy, I am mostly private about that sort of thing, but I want him to know that I love him and cherish every moment I have with him. He is my rock and every day I think how lucky my girls are to have him as a father.

This year, I plan on being amazing. I plan on being fully self expressed and I plan on living life to its fullest. It's gonna be a great year.

Scooters

2011-12-31T17:59:00.001-06:00

The weather the past two days has been unseasonably warm. As in the 70's. It has been AWESOME. We obviously took advantage of the nice weather to spend some time outside. The girls got scooters for Christmas and I threw them in the back of the van to take over to Nanna's big driveway so they could have an opportunity to play with them. They were having fun doing races up and down the driveway. Maddie wanted Nanna to count to 1-2-3-4-GO! Instead of the typical 1-2-3.

After scooting for a while we went to Jason's Deli for lunch. I wish they'd open one down the street from me, but it's probably better that there isn't one. After lunch we dropped Nanna and Popo off and came home for some 'quiet' time. The girls are officially done with naps, except for the occasional accidental one! But I am requiring them to go upstairs and play by themselves quietly for awhile each day to give us all some "alone" quiet space.

The other huge transition that has been going on around here is graduating the girls play area upstairs. I've been working for the past week to organize most of their toys upstairs. We are going to call their old toy room the "school" room. I'm going to do preschool at home, so I'm setting up the downstairs with a really great preschool set up. We have a reading nook, art supplies, manipulatives and more. It's a work in progress.

Izzie

Maddie and Izzie racing.

Izzie and Maddie

And speaking of graduating... the girls graduated from Kidz Gym 1 to Kidz Gym 2 at gymnastics. They've both mastered all the skills in level one so now we are moving up! I'm so excited for the girls and have really enjoyed watching their progress in gymnastics over the past year and a half.

Sand box and Flip Video

2011-12-29T08:24:00.002-06:00

For Christmas I got a Flip Video Player. I'm so excited about it because it is a super simple way to take short videos. This is a video of the girls playing with their new sandbox. A couple of years ago (I can't believe the girls are old enough for me to say a "couple of years ago!") Anyway, Popo made them an awesome sandbox. But we didn't research it right or put enough money into or something because it just didn't work. It became a giant litterbox. So we put a cover on it, but the sand got moldy. So we put a different kind of cover, but that ended up not working either. Now it is home to a family of field mice. We are going to convert the sandbox into a garden for the girls next spring. I'm sad it didn't work out because, the idea was great and I really wanted it to work out. But the girls really missed not being able to play in their sandbox so Grandma and Grandpa bought them a sandbox with a tight sealing lid for their birthday. I hope this one works out better because the girls are already enjoying it!

Ditt Dott Designs

2011-12-28T14:34:00.000-06:00

I love sewing and for Christmas this last year I made a lot of my friends and family personalized name towels and decorative pillows. Now I'm ready to start selling them. The towels make great towels for the pool or even as nap blankets for daycare. I can put any saying or design you want on the personalized decorative pillows. I started a facebook page for now to display some of my examples at www.facebook.com/dittdottdesigns. Please go "like" my page and consider ordering a towel or pillow!

The towels are $25 each.

The pillows are $20-35 depending on the complexity of the design you want.

This says: Grandma's House, Where cousins go to become best friends. Then it lists: Sammy, Maddie, Izzie, Sabrina, Lucy and Holly.

Mimi's house is where cousins go to become best friends: Macie, Alivia, Sydney and Madison.

Key Words: Personalized Pillow, Personalized Towel, Name Towel, Kid Towel

Sharing

2011-12-27T08:41:00.004-06:00

Maddie to Izzie: Where is the Rapunzel doll you gave me?
Izzie to Maddie: I don't know, it's not my job to keep up with the things I share!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpas

2011-12-26T20:23:00.002-06:00

After we opened and played with our gifts from Santa, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend the day with Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents. There was food, lots of yummy food, there were gifts galore, laughs, and all around merriment. Above is the most awesome Christmas Village that mom-in-law puts up almost every Christmas. It's amazing looking.

The kids led into the room with all their gifts, each grandkid has a pile.

Apparently it took 3 dads to put together (or play) with Sammy's racetrack.

I made the cousins these name towels for Christmas. Sabrina and Julie are looking at hers.

Maddie and Izzie cuddling with Aunt Julie.

Grandpa bought Grandma one share of stock in the Greenbay Packers. This made Grandma very, very excited.

Cheeze.

Just hanging out in between gifts and food.

Lucy and Sabrina are watching John play on the computer.

My little niece Holly.

This morning Izzie and Maddie were very excited to try out their new scooters from Grandma and Grandpa. I told them to go get dressed warm and this is what they put together. Oh well, they liked their scooters. Izzie picked up on it right away and was zooming along. Maddie took a bit longer but she got the hang of it quickly enough!

Merry Christmas Morning.

2011-12-25T09:04:00.001-06:00

We had so much fun this Christmas morning! The girls were so excited to see if Santa came. Well Izzie was anyway. She actually slept until 6:45 and crawled up in bed with us. Fifteen minutes later she was begging to go wake up Maddie so we said okay. Daddy went down the stairs first to see if Santa had come and turn on the Christmas tree lights and the girls and I headed down the stairs. Sure enough Santa had come and gone leaving a bunch of presents and his reindeer even made a mess of their food on our coffee table! Next year we should leave Santa a note that says No Reindeer in the house!

The girls were excited about all their presents but they really liked that Bunny and Teddy got a present too. They also opened the presents that they bought for each other. Izzie picked out a miniature tea set for Maddie and Maddie bought Izzie a mini pillow pal. They kept hugging each other and saying thank you to each other. Now they are playing on the drum that Santa brought them. I'm beginning to suspect that he should have brought two, but I think after awhile they'll be okay with sharing.

In a bit we'll head over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to exchange presents with them and the aunts, uncles and cousins. This is a fun process that takes most of the day, because we have lots of breaks to eat, play and just enjoy the day!

Coming down the stairs with Izzie and Maddie.

Izzie looking at her Crayola toys.

Daddy getting the drum out for Maddie and Izzie.

Maddie and Izzie showing off the new outfits that Bunny and Teddy got

Those messy reindeer!

Santa carrying on the tradition of fruit in the toe of the stocking. A reminder to eat your fruits and veggies!

Izzie even wrote Maddie's name on the gift she gave her sister.

Maddie wrote Izzie's name too. (She's holding it upside down.)

Izzie and Maddie watching Daddy open the drum.

Trying it out.

Santa Came!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Santa came and wow did the girls make out this year! Art sets, new pajamas, a drum, a motorhome for their doll house, blocks, stickers, bathtoys, movies and puzzles! This is the photo before the girls see what Santa brought them. He even brought Bunny and Teddy a new outfit!

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:05:00.001-06:00

Last night we took the girls to go look at Christmas lights with Hot Cocoa. Luckily I'm pretty sure Santa is giving them new nightgowns for Christmas because as you can see they are down to some misfits... but that is okay! Izzie and Maddie asked if Teddy and Bunny could come along to see the lights so we said sure.

This was our favorite house to drive past. As we drove along, Maddie would say, "Oh that house is SO Beautiful." To every house that had lights up!

This afternoon in Church. I took a few photos before the service started. This is Sabrina, Izzie and Maddie. They did really good, but both girls were very ready for the service to be over by the end! Even so, the choir is always one of their favorite parts.

Sabrina giving Izzie a hug.

Nanny's pretty tree.

Ta-da! Traditional Christmas Eve Nightgowns from Grandma and Grandpa. Izzie and Sabrina have matching gowns and Maddie is the purple one.

Grandpa with his Christmas hat.

Me and my sweetie.

Sabrina, Izzie and Maddie opening presents from Great-Great Aunt Betty in Wisconsin. So sweet of her to send the kids presents!

Grandma handing out gifts.

Izzie and Maddie opening their gift from Nanny. They love the princesses!

Weldon and Nanny.

Izzie being a cutie pie.

Got me!

2011-12-23T19:15:00.000-06:00

The girls turned one around on me! I told them earlier that there was NO way Santa was bringing them presents if their toy room was that messy. I said to them, he'd come down that chimney and say, "these girls have too many toys" and leave. As I was tucking the girls in for the night, they said... "Momma, you better clean your kitchen or Santa won't bring you a new blender!"

They got me!

Christmas Pictures

2011-12-21T19:49:00.001-06:00

Christmas Tree with Presents!

Dancing to the 12 Days of Christmas. A tradition in our family. We always sing as much as we can remember every year before opening gifts. Pepaw always grumbles and Mema always reminds us by saying, "Remember how you used to sing that song all the way through just to annoy me?" That's our reminder to start it up! This year we made it all the way to 11 before we forgot the words. It's so much fun. The girls were dancing and everyone was having a good time.

Popo.

My sister's boyfriend Dylan, Izzie and Maddie.

My hubs and I.

Rhonda bought mom a HUGE cobalt blue flower pot. We told her to close her eyes so we could bring it out. Mom LOVES cobalt blue anything and this was such a pretty pot!

She was so happy to see it!

Pepaw and Rhonda. Mom bought her a necklace that said, "Just Breathe" on it. Perfect for my sis!

Izzie and Maddie got a map of the United States from Nanna and Popo. Daddy is helping them put it together.

I made Pepaw and Dylan Reinbeers. It tickled me to no end knowing that these guys would drink beer from a girl-y beer bottle.

Dylan opening his Reinbeer.

Mema and Pepaw checking out the 3D feature on our new TV. It was pretty funny watching them watch 3D.

Not pictured was the feast that the women put together. We made turkey, green bean casserole, dressing, brussel sprouts, rolls and a fail apple pie. We had such a great time working together in the kitchen. It was just so much fun having family hang out and having such a great time in my home. I thought hosting Christmas would stress me out, but it didn't. I loved every single moment of the day, it was one of the best Christmas celebrations I've had in a long time!

Totally random, but wanted to put these up here. I made these cute personalized pillows for a friend to give to her mom and mother-in-law for Christmas. I hope to make/sell more of these!

I'm no longer needed...

2011-12-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

Maddie with a big grin on her face: I don't need your help. I'm SO big. I'm FOUR years old!!!

By the way... I measured them on our Growth Chart this morning: Izzie 41 inches, Maddie 41.5 inches

Happy 4th Birthday

2011-12-20T21:46:00.000-06:00

I really need to get a post up about my family Christmas celebration that we did on Sunday. The thing is today wore me out and I want to give the post some justice. It was a wonderful day spent with family. So I promise, I'll write about it soon.

Today was the girls 4th Birthday! I'm so glad we had a big party to celebrate it last Saturday instead of waiting until today. Because today, Maddie was sick and Izzie isn't too far behind her. Yesterday I ended up taking Maddie into the pediatrician and she had a double ear infection. I'm glad I caught it early and we got her on some antibiotics. Her cough was a lot better today, but her lips are cracked and dry so she keeps licking them, leaving her upper lip red and raw. This is causing her the most pain and discomfort of all her symptoms. Izzie's is starting to look the same.

I tried to make today as special as possible for the girls. I put their presents from us on the kitchen table and they got to open them first thing. Then I made them a big pancake that was shaped like a snowman with a piece of bacon for the scarf and chocolate chips and raisins for the eyes, mouth, buttons and arms. They seemed to like my work of food art. Then we just hung out for a bit before going out to run a quick errand. At lunch I let them have a cupcake and I sang Happy Birthday and gave each girl another candle to blow out. The plan was to take the girls out to dinner for their birthday but John ended up coming home from work sick himself. The girls were getting mighty tired by this point, but I didn't want to cancel dinner plans on them. We went to an early dinner with Nanna instead, leaving John at home to rest.

By the time we got home it was straight to an early bedtime. I sang my special version of Happy Birthday one more time and then kisses to bed. Now I've got big four year olds. My has time flown!

Maddie and Izzie's 4th Birthday Party

2011-12-17T21:50:00.003-06:00

I've been calling the girls "almost" four for about 3 months now. Now they really ARE almost four. In three more days. It's really hard to believe. Three still had a bit of babyishness to it, but four... four is just BIG KID. Today we celebrated their fourth milestone with a Snowman Birthday Party, per their request. And I tried to go big with it. We did several snowman party decorations over the past couple of weeks and I bought some too. Today I went to pick up balloons at Party City (no snowmen!) but I did find a 5' tall snowman wall decal that I put on the door. That was cool. Mom brought a snowman cake and I made a snowman pizza.

The down part to the entire day was Maddie not feeling good with a bit of a sore throat and a cough. But she was a trooper and I think she still had a good time. In attendance this year was: Momma, Daddy, Nanna, Popo, Rhonda, Mema, Pepaw, Jackie, Tom, Nanny, Julie, Chris, Sammy and Sabrina.

Birthday girls : Izzie and Maddie in the snowman shirts I made for them!

Some of the snowman presents. They actually requested all presents be wrapped with snowman. I thought that was SO cute!

Daddy and Nanny

Tom and Mema

Maddie, Grandma and Julie

Snowman White Artichoke Pizza

Chris, Izzie, Nanna and Popo.

Popo and Izzie.

Izzie, Maddie, Mema and Rhonda

Sabrina had a fun time helping!

Sandbox gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

Maddie and Izzie.

Getting Ready for the B-Day party!

2011-12-16T20:48:00.001-06:00

Today was a whirlwind of organization, party planning, and grocery shopping. Somehow I got a lot done but not as much as I wanted, but that's okay. It'll all work out and be terrific. I'm not the same host I was a few years ago, where EVERYTHING had to be dusted, vacuumed, sparkling and cooked to perfection. Now if there is some food out and enough of the clutter is shoved to the side that people can walk around... life is good. (Yeah right... I'm a bit more picky than that, but I have calmed down since having kids.) The girls are excited about their party. Their main concern is the cake, which I put in my Mom's capable hands. (Thanks Mom!) That and the chicken wings. They love chicken wings and that is what they requested for their birthday dinner. I'm glad it's chicken wings and not shrimp. When I was their age I asked my mom to take me to Red Lobster for my birthday so I could get a shrimp cocktail. I thought I was SO fancy.

I think Maddie may have caught the bug that I just got over. She complained her throat was hurting a couple times today. Mostly she seemed fine but she was dragging a bit all day. I hope she feels okay for her party tomorrow. It's a bummer to be sick on your birthday!

We did a lot of snowman crafts to decorate for their party, I didn't get as many done as I had originally hoped, but even so, we did quite a few. They are proud of every single one of them too! The other day when Jackie and Tom came by to pick them up, they walked around the house and showed Grandma every one they did! that made me feel good, because some of those projects were a bit of a struggle, so I'm glad they are proud of them!

All right... I've got some food to prep for tomorrow!

Twin World

2011-12-15T17:58:00.002-06:00

The girls are playing a Winnie the Pooh computer game. They started saying, "Twin World!" I asked them what Twin World was. They said, "It's where a lot of twins go."

Huge Success

2011-12-14T20:10:00.001-06:00

Well from all accounts the girls first night away at Grandma and Grandpa's house was a huge success. They had such a great time. They told me all about that they went to the Club with Grandma and Grandpa for dinner and got to see Santa Claus and do an art project. They said the food was great and of course the cupcakes were the best. They both said they had a great time talking to Santa. Then it was time to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and they got to see The Village. Jackie, my mother-in-law has the most amazing Miniature Christmas Village I have ever seen. Over the years she has collected so many pieces, little stores, an ice skating rink, people, snowmen, a Santa, Cinderella's castle and more. Every piece to her collection has a story or meaning. Each piece represents a memory, a person or a special place. And when she gets out the entire Village it is ah-mazing. It must take several hours to set up. It spans three cafeteria tables and an entire wrap around a bay window seat.

The girls must have spent a long time looking at it because they recited back several of their favorite pieces that they saw. I think this is the first year that they've gotten to see the entire thing. I think their first or second Christmas she got out some of the Village, but I don't think the entire thing has gone up in a while. Anyway, it's impressive. I'll post photos later, I forgot to snap any this morning.

Jackie said both girls were asleep by the time their heads hit the pillow at 7:45 but they were rockin' and a rollin by 6am. Grandma made them a special breakfast, per their request and then their cousin Sabrina joined them at 7:30. I got there at 10:30 to pick them up and they were NOT ready to leave. They had so much fun spending time at Grandma's house and even though they got sleep the excitement level, not to mention 3 solid hours of playing with their cuz they were TIRED. So they may have had a bit of a melt down. They were just so sad to leave. I know how it goes. I did the same thing when I had to leave my Mema's house when I was a kid, but deep down it just means that they had an awesome good time.

They almost fell asleep in the car but somehow made it home. We ate a lunch and then I sent them up for an early nap. I knew they were tired when there wasn't even one complaint! They are already asking when the next time is that they get to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Izzie eating at the Club.

Izzie, Santa and Maddie.

Maddie eating a chocolate covered strawberry.

Maddie and Izzie working on their art project.

Thanks for sending photos Grandma!

One night is not enough

2011-12-13T10:37:00.001-06:00

Maddie and Izzie are spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the first time! They are so excited that for the past few days they keep talking about "Grandma Day!" This morning the girls are making me laugh because they have a very good understanding of the days of the week and the order that they come in. They know that today (Tuesday) Grandma is picking them up for a sleepover and I'm picking them up Wednesday morning. Izzie keeps saying, "Mom, I want you to pick me up on Saturday!" knowing full well she's asking to stay over for several nights!

Santa Photo... attempt one.

2011-12-10T19:12:00.001-06:00

Santa photo... attempt one. Izzie, Maddie and Daddy. (ps. Yes, this is 'shopped.)

Christmas Parties

2011-12-10T12:01:00.001-06:00

This is Izzie and Maddie getting ready for their PAMOM Chirstmas party with Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa. I'm staying home with this dang cold. They got these beautiful dresses from Grandma and were so excited to wear them today!

Izzie and Maddie.

Maddie and Izzie.

Bath at Nanna's house!

Maddie after snack time. She got smoothie all over her face!

Maddie and Izzie.

This was called a Purple Haze. I ordered it at the Board PAMOM Christmas Party last Tuesday.

We were at Black Finn in Addison and they really went out of their way to make the restaurant look nice.

The surprise comedians that Melanie hired for the event. It was a lot of fun!

Purple hair is still fun!

No Voice

2011-12-07T20:43:00.001-06:00

Today has been a VERY interesting day. I woke up with no voice. I can barely whisper or talk like a broken rough sounding cowboy that smokes a lot. I sound terrible and any sound that comes out has come at a painful price. But other than my voice being gone, I felt fine so the day went on as usual. Well, almost.

I decided to steal my mom's chiro appointment this morning (thanks MOM!) and have Dr. Reif work on my jaw which was painfully tight last night. I've got TMJ which flares up occasionally. Someone told me that chiropractors can work on your sinuses and other things too, so I figured why not? He was a huge help in my jaw for sure. But the appointment was pretty early so I had to take the girls with me, there wasn't time to drop them off at mom's house. Plus, I was stealing her appointment, I thought it'd be over the top to steal her appointment AND ask her to spontaneously babysit at the last moment.

Not to mention, it was good for the girls. They need to get out with me at places like that where they HAVE to act like grown-ups and learn the difference between getting to be a free spirited kid and having decorum. They were terrific! I was so proud of them. They spent the entire appointment visiting with the receptionists and nurses. Then they even started talking to the other customers. They would come to the back room occasionally and peek on me and then go back to the waiting room to "visit." They had to tell EVERYONE that Santa sent them stuffed snowmen through Ginger the Elf. Luckily everyone just nodded and went along even though they had no idea what they were talking about. They got the gist of what the girls were saying. I can't believe these are the same girls that were so incredibly shy a few months ago.

My persistence in not allowing people to label them as "SHY" is really paying off. I hate that grown ups are SO quick to label a 3 year old as shy!!!! Some kids actually grow up believing that. I should know, I was one of them. Anyone who knows me tells me that I am NOT shy, but I think of myself as shy because I was told I was shy by grown ups (not my mom.) It's one of those things that can be hard to shake. Anyway, I just tell my girls that Shy is NOT cute and that talkative girls that have smart things to say is better than being shy. It's working. They love talking to the librarians and other grown ups we meet. Now yes, they still sometimes act a bit shy and that is okay. But I don't want it to become their label.

Okay... I got off track... but I haven't been able to talk ALL DAY LONG and that is NOT good for me. I love talking. I never realized how much until I couldn't do it! After chiro we did go to storytime. They had a lot of fun as usual. Home for lunch and then some tree decorating. Our tree decorating has been a multiday project this year, but oh well, spread out the fun! Then the girls did end up going over to Nanna's for a bit this afternoon so I could run some errands by myself. I was excited to hear that Lucky Layla our Raw Milk Dairy finally got their machines working and milk is back on the shelves! That was one of my stops today. I think I see a raw milk smoothie in my future!

By the time I got back to my moms house it was practically dinner time. The girls asked if we could all go to Chiloso's and since John wasn't going to be home until late, I figured why not? I needed the help since by this point my voice was really straining. During dinner it gave out completely and so mom and Chris ended up coming over to help put the girls down. I literally couldn't talk at this point with out the feeling of razor blades being pulled down the inside of my throat. When I'm not talking it just is mild discomfort. So I choose silence. And Kombucha and Cod Liver Oil and Lemon with Honey and homemade chicken stock and a million other things I keep trying to get over this fast!

Well girls are tucked in bed sound asleep and I think I'm headed there very soon!

ps. Don't call me to wish me feeling better... an email would be better! hahahaha

Surprise Note from Santa

2011-12-06T10:25:00.001-06:00

Here is Ginger our Santa Helper Elf.

Yesterday's Discipline Bootcamp was exhausting! Not that we didn't have lots of fun in between the timeouts and crying bouts, but they did not like that I didn't let them get away with things. I figured today would be round two, but so far they are listening a million times better than before. I did get a bit of help from Santa though. Apparently Ginger, our Santa Helper Elf told Santa that Maddie and Izzie made a lot of bad choices yesterday. So Santa sent Ginger back with two stuffed snowmen and a note. The note said that if the girls made better choices today that the snowmen would be a gift for the girls to take to bed with them tonight. They were both very excited about this and Maddie said, "Santa KNOWS we are snowmen!!!"

Discipline Bootcamp

2011-12-05T12:42:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure what has gotten into the girls lately but it's been a rough couple of weeks. Well we are past a couple of weeks going into, when-will-this-ever-end thoughts. I think it started with talk about them turning 4 soon. We talked about things four year olds get to do, like drink without a sippy (yeah, I sort of delayed that one!) We can now walk in the parking lot NEXT to mommy, instead of holding her hand, we can get dressed by ourselves, we can pull our own covers up at nighttime, we can play in the bathtub with mommy in the room next to us, we can play in the backyard by ourselves, we can play upstairs by ourselves, the list goes on. With that talk I think they realized that they were growing up too and that they were no longer babies.

Which resulted in more babytalk, whining, fighting, saying "NO!" like a 2 yr old, temper tantrums and just meltdowns for everyone involved. This has been going on for weeks. We give a privilege and then end up having to take it away. Today I realized that I had pretty much stopped time-outs because they just didn't need them for the longest time. Things were for the most part groovy. So I started a Discipline Bootcamp today and I'm enforcing everything without the tons of leeway I normally give. I used to be able to be generous with discipline because for the most part they are great kids. But things have gotten too slack so we're going back to basics.

We've had several time outs this morning. We have to hold our hands on our head when we put things in our mouth that don't belong, we have to hold our tongue if we scream or whine. We did one time out together holding hands until we stopped fighting. This has been amongst some fun moments this morning too. It's been a busy day. Right now they earned the right to paint after cleaning up their toy room without any fights. Izzie thought about it a few times but she quickly started cleaning when she realized I wasn't joking and Maddie would get to paint while she could only watch. (I'm personally SO glad she didn't test me on that, but I would have stuck by it.)

I'm sure hoping they both take a nap today because it's been mentally and physically trying today. It's crazy how much brainpower is used to keep up with two almost 4 year olds! And they are still little enough for me to haul them to time out.... just barely!

Oh and a creative way to encourage them to clean up the toy room that sort of got out of hand... earn a small sticker on a chart for every single toy you put up. I sat there and supervised (not ideal, but still needed sometimes when the toy room is that messy.) Everytime Maddie put up a toy she got a sticker on her side, and same for Izzie. The competition really kept them going.

It's my Birthday!

2011-12-04T09:30:00.001-06:00

Well it's been an interesting birthday so far! John got the girls up early to work on a birthday surprise for me. Then he went to the store to go get the stuff to make me cupcakes. But his battery died in the parking lot so I called my mom's boyfriend, Chris, to go help him jump the van. Our original plan for the day was to have birthday lunch and Christmas tree decorating at my moms house. But her hot water heater exploded last week and her house is now semi under construction. She's not sure she'll even be able to decorate this year due to the construction.

So Chris got the van working and then he followed John home. John started working on the cupcakes with the girls while I went Christmas tree shopping with Chris. We picked out a perfect tree and got it home, mostly dry despite the pouring rain. Then Mom, my sister, Chris, John and the girls sang me Happy Birthday and I opened up gifts. By that time, the gumbo was ready and let me tell you it is a perfect day for gumbo! The sometimes pouring, sometimes drizzly rain has created a great atmosphere for staying warm and cozy in the house with lots of singing, dancing and visiting. Somehow, I think we all sat around visiting too long and the tree did not get decorated! Mom and Chris had to book it out to make it to a Christmas party this evening. But it was a very fun, sort of crazy morning and afternoon.

Oh and the special surprise the girls made for me? My very first noodle necklaces! I LOVE them!

Cookie Day 2011

2011-12-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

Today was Cookie Day 2011! Grandma Christmas Cookie Day is a tradition that Jackie started as a special day a few years ago. The first year that I participated I think it was just the moms (Me, Julie, Dana and Jackie) while the Dads watched all the babies. Last year we let Sammy, Sabrina, Maddie and Izzie make cookies. This year all SIX grandkids were in residence! Holly had to take a beauty nap during most of the cookie making, but she has the shirt to prove she was there!

Speaking of the shirts.... it started with me wanting to make the girls a cute Christmas shirt. I figured it'd be fun to wear on Cookie Day. Then I got to thinking that it'd be fun for all the cousins to have them. This was a spontaneous decision that I came to I think on Tuesday evening. So I had to make six shirts in just a couple of days. On Wednesday my mom said it was too bad her new embroidery machine was still in the box. But that got me thinking and I made a quick call to a friend. She gladly embroidered all the shirts for me! It was the icing on the cake! It really made the shirts extra special. It was so fun watching all the kids running around in matching t-shirts.

The cooking making was a very fun, very, very, very messy experience. Six kids all around the table with dough and flour flying. It was great. The kids got the hang of it pretty quickly this year and had the patience to go through almost all the dough that Jackie had pre-mixed up. Then we broke for some playing and a bit of lunch. Next came a birthday celebration for both Jackie and I. Her birthday is the 2nd and mine is the 4th. By that time the kids were ready to ice the now cooled down cookies. There were six or eight little bowls of icing and more bottles of sprinkles than I could count. But the kids did remarkably well! The sprinkles got everywhere but the icing surprisingly stayed mostly on the cookies. I think any stray icing got licked up, truthfully.

After icing the kids played some more, the grown ups sat around and visited and it was just a great day to mark down in the memory books. Here are the photos I pared down from the seventy I took!

Getting ready to go this morning. Izzie decided to throw a pretty awesome tempertantrum, so while she was pulling her fit, Maddie decided to use her time wisely and make Grandma a last minute Birthday Card all on her own. She was so very proud of her work!

Sabrina, Maddie, Sammy, Izzie, Lucy (Holly not picture, she's taking a nap.)

Grandma getting ready for cookie set up. Lucy, Maddie and Izzie picking out which cutters and rollers they wanted.

Lucy picked the biggest roller to use.

Maddie and Izzie of COURSE wanted the SNOWMEN cookie cutters!

Some cookie chaos. Lucy, Sammy, Sabrina and Julie.

Maddie, Izzie, Dana and Lucy. It was hard stopping to wash hands to pick up the camera to take a few photos, the girls still need a lot of help with the rolling!

Holly making a holly shaped cookie with Grandma.

Yay! All six grandkis. Maddie, Sabrina, Sammy, Maddie, Lucy and Holly. The great thing was that all five of the big kids were old enough to play together really well.

Photo with Nanny. Maddie, Izzie, Sammy, Lucy and Sabrina.

Sabrina, Lucy, Maddie and Izzie putting on a show.

Lunch break. Sammy, Izzie, Lucy, Maddie and Sabrina.

Uncle Chris and Sammy.

Maddie concentrating hard!

Izzie carefully icing the cookies.

Sabrina and Sammy.

Another Maddie photo.

Another Izzie.

A photo with Grandma! Izzie, Maddie, Lucy, Sabrina and Sammy.

Maddie showing off a cookie.

Izzie.

The drive home....

Link to Cookie Day 2010

Well, you might not recognize me...

2011-12-01T16:55:00.001-06:00

There's a little bit of color change going on around here! Happy Birthday to me!

Christmas Wish List

2011-11-30T21:02:00.001-06:00

As December gets closer, well... tomorrow.. the girls Christmas wishlist gets longer. So far a few of the tops are:
Robot Princess
Legos
Movies of books they've read
Drums
Whistles
Princess Castles
Stickers
Coloring Books
Reading Books

I say... that's a decent list. Still haven't figured out that Robot Princess thing yet...

Where is the switch

2011-11-28T13:53:00.001-06:00

Izzie started to cry and throw a fit.
Maddie: Momma I don't want sissy to be crying.
Me: I don't either honey.
Maddie: well we can't just turn her off!

More Snowmen

2011-11-27T11:45:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned before, the girls want a Snowman Themed Birthday party so I figured that we'd go the homemade decorations route and make snowmen galore to decorate the house with. This is a "snowglobe" snowman. I taped a ziplock bag full of glitter to the inside of the snowmans tummy. This is the snowman I made as an example. Plus I wanted to have fun too!

I bought this clear jar at Hobby Lobby on sale for $2.50 and painted him up to be a cute snowman, don't you think?

This is Maddie's puff ball snowman.

This one is Izzie's.

This is Maddie and Izzie's Snowglobe Snowmen. They did a lot of this themselves. I cut out the tummy hole & stapled the plates together. They did all the gluing of the pieces.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T20:34:00.001-06:00

Beautiful day to enjoy playdough outside!

Lots of cooking going on!

A few peeks and grabs of bites to eat.

Reminisicing over past turkeys.

Laying out the spread.

Hugs.

Watching tv with the cousins in Grandma and Grandpa's bed.

Hugs for Grandma

Cousin love.

I can't wait to recreate this one in a few years!

Grandpa's girls.

More cousins.

What a beautiful holiday we had. I'm Thankful for all the family in my life. The ones I got to spend the holiday with and the ones celebrating the holiday in different cities. The web of my family is extensive and I love that. And while I missed the family that wasn't close at hand, I knew they were with me in my heart and I was in theirs.

Friends

2011-11-25T20:31:00.001-06:00

Maddie, Izzie, Madison and Sydney.

Last Tuesday Maddie and Izzie's friends Madison and Sydney came over to play while their mom attended a funeral. It was a lot of fun having playmates over for the girls. They just had a great time and they did everything together. First the played princess stuff, all taking turns and sharing. Then collectively they decided to clean that all up and color together. Next came dress up, then a show on tv. By that time it was lunch and Melanie returned shortly after lunch. The morning went by in a breeze.

Snowmen and Christmas Requests

2011-11-21T20:21:00.001-06:00

Izzie and Maddie

The weather this month has been pretty funny. One day it's shorts and t-shirt weather and the next day the girls are bundled up like snowmen. I need to take a photo of them bundled up because this "snowman" thing has taken on a life of it's own. They are now Snowmen most of the day. In the photos above, do they look like little girls? Perhaps Princesses? Nope. They are SNOWMEN, dressed up like a Princess to trick everyone. Gotta love the imagination of almost four year olds!

The snowman craze started when I bought them some fleeces a few weeks ago. I guess they felt so cozy they just felt like snowmen. But now they talk about snowmen all day and they are excited about the snowman themed birthday party they are having in a few weeks.

Oh, and those imaginations? They've asked Santa for a Robot Princess. I don't let them watch commercials so they don't really know what is out there. Sure we've been down the toy aisle but without the commercials, the toys just don't jump out at them like they do other kids. So their imaginations created exactly what they wanted for Christmas. When they first made this request a few weeks ago, I was picturing in my head a little robot like the one from The Jetsons. (I do not know why that particular robot popped in my head!) Anyway, I was picturing a robot like that with a tiara and tutu on. Then it dawned on me that they want a full animatronic robotic princess. Like the animatronic dinosaur robots they saw at the zoo this last summer. Yep, they want a full size Princess that will move and talk. I told them that would be pretty expensive. They said that is why they are asking Santa. They got me there! I still don't think Santa will be bringing a Robot Princess for under our tree.

Indoor Picnic

2011-11-17T17:55:00.001-06:00

Today our lunch plans got canceled at the last minute so we decided to change things up a bit. I had a lunch packed for them so I suggested a picnic upstairs which is something we've never done. They had a fun time!(Maddie and Izzie.)

PJ Storytime

2011-11-16T19:13:00.001-06:00

Maddie, Madison, Sydney and Izzie at the Smith Public Library

Sydney, Madison, Izzie and Maddie at the Library for Pajama day storytime!

Izzie, Sydney, Maddie and Madison on the swingset.

Today was storytime at the library and it was a double special day. First off it was letter ZZZZZ for Sleeping Snoring and the kids all got to come in their pajamas. Even the librarians dressed in their PJ's. Secondly it was special because our friend Madison and Sydney Davis (and their Momma, Melanie!) joined us at storytime. Maddie and Izzie took Madison and the three of them sat in the very front row today. Sydney sat in the back with us though. As an extra special treat one of the librarians got out a guitar and even sang a lullaby that fit the "sleepy" theme.

After storytime we came to my house for lunch and play. It was such perfect weather that the kids all went outside and played on the swingset pretty much the entire time they were here. It was great to get to visit with Melanie in the quiet inside while we watched the kids through the window! Our schedules have been so busy lately that we haven't gotten to hang out near as much as we used to, and I think the girls really enjoyed getting to spend time with some of their best friends.

The joy of toys

2011-11-15T20:50:00.001-06:00

The majority of this morning was spent "not cleaning the family room." I think it's a new game that the girls have invented. A while back I bought the girls a dollhouse at a consignment store and it came with 50+ pieces!!! And since then I've bought even more pieces to add to the collection. They LOVE this dollhouse so all those pieces are worth it. It's just sometimes pieces of anything drive me crazy. This morning the family room needed some attention and it took a bunch of convincing for the girls to pick it up.

More than several months ago, I realized I liked sleeping in, and the girls woke up excited to start their day before I did. This was not working, so I came up with a PLAN. I bought a Teach Me Time Toddler Clock. It turns green when it's time to wake up. So the plan was to teach the girls that when the clock turned green, they could go in the family room and play with their dollhouse while Momma (that's me) could peel her eyelids open at a more leisurely rate. The family room is outside of my room so I could hear them playing but for the most part I could tune them out and catch an extra 15 minutes of sleep. This plan actually works really well most days.

But back to those pieces. The dollhouse gets played with pretty much every day. There are only 3 toys in the family room. Books, the dollhouse and a set of duplo big legos. When implementing my PLAN I did not implement "clean up dollhouse toys before we go downstairs." This has backfired. They do not like it when I tell them family room is getting ridiculous and it needs to be cleaned. Today I told them we had a new rule and that they had to clean up from now on. This was met with much resistance. It took close to two hours but the family room did get cleaned. (All the books were on the floor, the legos were spread across the entire room and all those pieces... they must have given birth and multiplied... they were EVERYWHERE.

But I'm happy to report the family room is all shiny and clean right now. You could even hold a dance across the floor. The problem is tomorrow morning when that clock turns green and I hear the CRASH of those pieces hitting the floor, I have to keep my blood pressure normalized. How else are they going to play? They've got to get to the pieces! And then even though, I just want to go downstairs and start the day, I'm going to have to take a deep breath and we are going to clean up the dollhouse.

See, now there is a second part of my PLAN. It's called moving the downstairs toy room to the upstairs family room. The nightmare is having 90% of their toys upstairs. If we do not create a new cleaning system this could be horrific. Like I said, they have 3 toys up there right now and it gets to looking like a hurricane hit it, I can only imagine what it's going to look like if all their toys are up there.

By the way, they do remarkably good at playing with one toy at a time and cleaning up after themselves downstairs where I keep a closer eye on them. But they are growing up and things change. Wasn't it just yesterday we had gates up all around our house?? I was terrified of removing the gate thinking that the toys would be everywhere! But we adapted and life goes on. I both love and hate change!

Feeding the Ducks

2011-11-14T16:46:00.001-06:00

Maddie and Izzie about to feed the ducks at Breckinridge Park today.

It was a gorgeous morning, actually leaning to the warm side. I wished I had worn shorts and both girls were complaining of sweaty feet by the end of the morning! But we had a fun time, we've visited this park a few times and I always forget to bring bread. This time we stopped at Walgreens and got a 99cent loaf on the way to the park!

My favorite game. Spa Day!

Our Next Trip

2011-11-14T09:28:00.001-06:00

Izzie: Momma, when we are a bit older, can we get in an airplane and go visit Winnie the Pooh?
Me: Hum, but I don't know where Winnie the Pooh lives!
Izzie: Oh, he lives in the Acre Woods!
Me: Oh yeah, I forgot. You sure are right.
Izzie: We'll knock on his door and say, "HI Pooh! We are here to visit you!"

Art Table

2011-11-13T12:56:00.001-06:00

Maddie, Purple Bunny, White Teddy and Izzie. PB and WT don't usually get to come downstairs, but both girls were complaining of a tummyache this morning and needed some extra cuddles from their friends.

I finally took a few minutes to put together an art table feature on their little desk. Just a piece of elastic that I sewed, wrapped around the end and stuck thumbtacks to hold it steady. The desk is from KidKraft.

On the other end, I put some hooks. I took a dowel and stuck thumbtacks in it. I wrapped the string around the thumbtacks so it doesn't slip off too easily. The roll out paper of fairies I got at Target. I have another roll of plain paper I got at IKEA. Anyone know where else to get rolls of plain white paper? IKEA isn't that easy for me to get to!

Maddie and Izzie excited to color on their new "new" art table!

The right shoe makes the difference!

2011-11-12T10:07:00.001-06:00

Izzie: Mom can you help me put on Dora's shoes?
Me: Okay.
Izzie: Dora wants to save the Kingdom but she can't unless she has shoes on!

11/11/11

2011-11-11T19:27:00.001-06:00

I had a lot of fun with today's date today. I don't know why it tickled me but I loved the thought of 11/11/11. I even set my phone alarm for 11/11/11 at 11:11am so I wouldn't miss it! Then the other day I read that someone was going to make a wish at that time so I wanted to make a wish then too. I even got the girls in on it, but we need to work on their wishing skills. They both just wished for a cookie.

John's back in town, he left on Tuesday for a trip to Seattle. Mom was able to help out a bunch, but I'm still tired and glad he's back home. This afternoon I decided to get my bike out again and go for a bike ride. The weather was absolutely perfect for a leisurely bike ride on the trail in our neighborhood. I actually had to stop several times and take photos because everything was just so beautiful today! I wish I had my real camera with me instead of just my phone.

This was Izzie and Maddie at storytime yesterday. Apparently the Thursday class is a lot smaller than the Wednesday one! There was only 8 or so kids in the class and Izzie and Maddie sat right up front. I guess with less kids they were more comfortable. Those are the librarians Ms. Veronica and Ms. Alyssa.

Photos from my bike ride....

Birthday Plannin'

2011-11-10T10:16:00.001-06:00

On the way to gymnastics this morning, the girls started plotting out their birthday party. They decided they wanted a snowman theme. My gut reaction was "that's too christmas-ey!" But with a birthday 5 days before Christmas I guess it is better to embrace a winter theme than spend your life resenting a close to Christmas birthday. They've been fascinated with snowmen for about two weeks now. Ever since I bought them their new fleece jackets (which by the way are striped colors and don't resemble snowmen in anyway except in the immaginations of 3.5 year olds.)
They started talking about doing snowmen art projects to hang on the wall for decoration and they said maybe people would wrap their presents with snowman paper. They want ice cream cake because it's cooold like a snowman! I asked them what they wanted for dinner on their birthday and they started menu planning: chicken wings, corn with tomatoes carrots and yummy bread. They are having a great time being little party planners!

A bit of this and that

2011-11-09T20:56:00.002-06:00

The past week has been a whirlwind. I caught the first head cold I've had in a year and it kicked me in the butt. I got symptoms on last Thursday, but it was just barely. Started with an earache, which was fluid building up. I had a training day at Landmark on Friday and I took some dayquil with me to get through the day. In retrospect I should have not gone, because Saturday I was out for the count. John had the girls all day Friday by himself which wore him out, so Mom and Chris volunteered to watch the girls for a few hours. A few hours turned into all day! Which was MUCH appreciated since I spent the day in bed and John spent the day taking care of me. I actually had flashbacks to my bedrest days!! Sunday I was up and moving a bit more, but not much. Monday I was feeling better but still had no energy. Finally, yesterday I was starting to feel "normal."

It was good that I was finally starting to feel human again since last night was my PAMOM November meeting. Heather Cox and I are in charge of running the Expectant Moms forum and we had a good turn out. We held a question and answer session and it brought me back to the days when I was sitting in the chairs full of questions about giving birth and raising twins! Goosebumps to think I'm running the forum! I remember looking up at the Forum Leaders at that time: Tina Firgens (mom to b/b twins) and Misty Urech (Mom to G/G/G/G quads) and thinking they really had all their stuff together and would I EVER get as confident as they seemed to be! I love having a multiples support group, it really has made a huge difference in my life.

Okay, I'm in a bit of a rambly mood tonight because it's been almost a week since I blogged and so much has happened, and yet... nothing spectacular either. The girls are growing so fast. They are trying to reason with me at every turn. It sometimes is exhausting trying to stay ahead of where they are going mentally. Yep... my two, almost four year olds, wear me out mentally sometimes. Maddie has been trying out, "NO!" a lot lately, which totally doesn't cut it with me. I actually don't mind if my child disagrees with me, but she better use a sentence and come up with another solution that I find reasonable. I actually learned that lesson years ago when I was babysitting as a teenager. I was babysitting this little girl and whenever I suggested anything she'd come up with a counter offer. But she always had sound logic behind her reasoning and I was left thinking, "wow, this kid is smart and is going to grow up to be a lawyer or judge." Her parents didn't teach her to accept NO. Her parents taught her to think and debate. I of course always have the final say. Sometimes my way is the way it is going to go that night, but coming up with alternate solutions can be fun.... yeah... exhausting! I'm actually teaching the girls when I say, "Sometimes you get a choice, but tonight you don't." that means that I won't budge on whatever the topic is and they've learned to mostly not keep debating at that point.

Today we had a playdate at Alison's house. The girls were excited to see all their friends but they were also sad to miss Storytime. We may go to storytime tomorrow, but that one is during naptime, so I'm not sure yet. I don't like missing storytime, but playdates are harder to come by these days as kids are starting Mother's Day Out Programs and Preschools. I love having the girls home with me and I love teaching them preschool activities but I do have to work a bit harder to make sure that they are getting plenty of social time too.

Well here are a few photos:

The girls are into Ballet lately. They took a 4 wk dance class forever ago and hated it (they were too young and they wouldn't let parents in the dance room, so it was a disaster) but now they are always playing "Ballet." I'll have to see if the rec center has lessons. Maddie Izzie.

Maddie and Izzie.

Their play phones have been popular again lately. Maddie told me earlier today, "Mom! I'm on the phone!" and stormed off when I asked her to do something for me!

The weather has been PERFECT for backyard play and the girls will spend an hour or more playing on their fort. Izzie LOVES the glider. Maddie likes the belt swings.

Maddie and Izzie playing Rapunzel. They even had to go get towers.

Playdate this morning. Madison, Melanie, Sydney and Jake. Not pictured is Gabe who isn't into crafting, he was off playing with balls. That kid loves sports like no other kid I've seen.

What a cute smile, Ford!

Maddie.

Izzie.

Masking Tape Town

2011-11-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

This morning I got out a mostly used roll of masking tape and laid out a little town for the girls to play with. They were very excited watching me. Maddie grabbed a sheet of paper so she could draw a map. Izzie grabbed some toy cars.

Then I helped them get out the blocks and we started creating a town.

They had fun putting some of their favorite spots on the map.

Maddie and Izzie playing

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T14:29:00.001-05:00

Halloween! Izzie and Maddie made spectacular Mermaids.

After the first couple of houses they even went up and knocked on the doors all by themselves, saying Trick or Treat very loudly.

This house was pretty cool!

This year was so much different than last year. They weren't shy or timid at all. They had a blast going around knocking on doors and talking to everyone. I'm bummed I forgot to take a picture of Aunt Rhonda who also came to trick or treat with us. And Nanna and Popo came over for dinner too, as our tradition is. They handed out the candy as we went door to door with the girls. Such a hoot!

Cabin Trip 2011

2011-11-01T14:24:00.000-05:00

This last weekend we finally made it to the family cabin! It's actually a time share unit that my in-laws own and we get to use some of their bonus time, which really, really rocks. It's a perfect little get away tucked in the East Texas woods, miles from any big city. The units are more like little apartments but I like to call them the cabins because of the woodsey feeling the place has. The girls barely remembered our trip from last year so it made this year fun to show it all to them again. We also lucked out because the Activity Center threw a little carnival on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun for the girls.

My intention was to do a bunch of art projects but the girls had so much fun just playing and being in nature that we didn't get to the crafts as much. They have a lot more freedom to explore and all the plants and things were different than what they have at home. They were having so much fun with the pinecones and pine needles. We did finish up a painting project that I threw in the bag as an after thought, but my more elaborate nature crafts... well they just weren't interested this time around. I did save some nice pine cones to turn into bird feeders now that we are home.

We had a great time this last weekend and when I tucked the girls in our third and last night, they said, "Mommy, we were at the cabin for a long, long, long time. It was so much fun." That just gave me warm fuzzies all the way down. I can't wait until we get to go back again!

Getting ready to leave for the trip. It was a cold and rainy day.

The girls claimed their room by spreading out their blankets and tucking in their lovies right away.

Master room.

This tub is HUGE. The girls LOVE "swimming" in it.

Unwinding from the drive. Daddy trying his cell phone (we didn't have service for the most part) and Maddie and Izzie organizing where their toys would be for the weekend.

The dining kitchen area. I had the brilliant idea to use this cart. I loaded it up and we put it loaded straight up in the van. That way we didn't have to make as many trips bringing stuff in to the cabin. Since it was raining this was awesome.

A bit more relaxing right before the girls' bedtime. They did get to stay up late, but they were tired. Daddy, Maddie and Izzie.

All tucked in. We had to check on them several times because they were in a new place. They kept calling for a million different reasons.

Izzie and Maddie ready to start their first day.

We took a bag to hold our treasures we collected as we went on a little walk around the property.

I showed Izzie and Maddie a Daddy Long Leg Spider. They aren't really spiders but they look like them. I can handle one, but when about 200 of them climb on your mosquito netting when you are about 8 yrs old at girl scout camp... it can be pretty frightening.

The activity center had decorations up for fall.

Maddie and Izzie loved this big pumpkin.

It's a simple putt putt course, but it's fun. The girls had a hard time focusing this time. They actually did better last year! (Izzie)

Maddie would not let us show her how to hold the club.

Somehow John beat me even one handed. He ended up being the pack mule of our walk. I usually win against him at putt putt but my game was off today!

The girls wanted to make Pumpkin Cookies with Daddy. Well the cabin has a limited kitchen but I forgot how limited. They didnt' have any measuring spoons and their biggest bowl would not have held all the dough. John was a trooper though and made do with mixing in a pot and literally guessing on the amount of flour. Even so, these cookies were amazing.

Painting on the porch. (Izzie and Maddie.)

The girls were exploring the forest and found a pinecone with pine needles in it. They looked at it and declared it a Daddy Long Leg Spider Cone. We then had to make an entire family of them.

Maddie hunting more pineneedles.

view from our cabin.

Izzie enjoying the freedom of having so much terrain to explore in. I loved that we were next to a dry creek bed. It reminded me of when I was a kid at Mema's house and I used to play in her creek when it was dry.

Izzie and Maddie.

Photos of the amazing East Texas trees.

More trees.

Here's Izzie taking a coloring break.

While Daddy and Maddie read on the couch.

We played a couple of games of Go Fish for the first time this weekend. Daddy and Maddie were on a team this go around.

Izzie helped me out.

Time to Ice those cookies!

Izzie licked the icing right off the knife. We had a talk about knife safety!

Yum

More decorating.

Careful... yum!

Fluffiest, yummiest sugar cookies EVER. I'll post the recipe another day.

TV break. Maddie and Izzie.

Running to the activity center.

Daddy, Izzie and Maddie.

Izzie was so excited when she found this little Witches broom!

Playing toss for prizes.

Izzie's turn.

Maddie and Izzie loved the bounce house.

They did it over and over and over.

I'm impressed. I got two whole photos of me this trip. One I had to ask for and one I took by myself. Love my hubby but he doesn't think to pick up the camera much! Aren't we cute??

John suggested they go down arms first on their belly. That was FUN.

Maddie eating her carnival hot dog.

Izzie

Time to go home. It was a fun trip!

Daddy running back for one more souvenir. Izzie dropped her "special" baby pine cone and Daddy went back to find it!

Costume Story Time at the Wylie Library

2011-10-26T14:20:00.000-05:00

This is a great trick to keep kids happy and busy for a long, long time. Make up a batch of sidewalk paint (mix cornstarch, water and food coloring to your preferred thickness) and let the kids go to town painting the fence, deck, rocks, whatever. It washes right off in the rain or sprinklers. (It dries darker than it goes on.)

Today was costume day at the Library storytime. Both girls were super excited to get to put their Mermaid costumes on again and show them off. Here is Maddie and Izzie reading before storytime. Making a costume that is "wearable" is important.

Riley, Maddie and Izzie. (photo by: Ashlea Petzold)

They sat in the front row today, encouraged by their new friend Riley (in the pink princess outfit next to Maddie.) Riley is a super sweet girl who isn't shy at all! And I say that in the best way, she is absolutely adorable.

Mrs. Debbie the nice witch.

Mrs. Veronica and one of our new children's librarians that I haven't learned their name yet.

Puppet show!

I have not

2011-10-25T16:09:00.001-05:00

Me: Maddie, have you changed out of your diaper? (After naptime)
Maddie: Weeeeelll.... No.... As a matter of fact, I have not.

Researcher in the Making

2011-10-25T08:48:00.003-05:00

I love how just now that the girls were having an argument/discussion and Maddie ran to the bookcase to look for a specific book. She showed Izzie a picture from the book to back up her side of the argument. Izzie said, "Oh, okay." and they went on with what they were doing.

Halloween Costume... Unveiled!

2011-10-24T16:42:00.001-05:00

Time for the unveiling of this year's Halloween Costumes! Maddie and Izzie both wanted to be Mermaids and so about a month ago I took them to the fabric store to go shopping. They picked out their own fabric. I was nervous to start sewing because I didn't have a pattern but I was pretty sure I could figure it out. This is my first outfit to sew without a pattern and I think they came out great! The girls both love the outfits too. I got some dollar store jewelry to make them even more sparkly and painted their nails blue. When I pulled out the eyeshadow this morning they were so excited to get to wear makeup for the first time. I did sew head pieces for them to Izzie's exact specifications but they got boo'd this morning. Oh well.

We got dressed up this morning for the PAMOM annual Costume Parade. There was a lot less turnout this year than in past years, but we still had fun. Jake and Ford were both Texas Rangers and they looked adorable. Madison and Sydney came as ballerinas. Elle and Sydney came as pirates and their brother came as Luigi IN a car (Super Mario Cart!) There were some little monsters, the three little pigs, punk stars and more. It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up.

And for a trip down memory lane...
PAMOM Parade 2010 Link
PAMOM Parade 2009 Link
PAMOM Parade 2008 Link

Izzie and Maddie

Sydney, Madison, Izzie and Maddie.

Aaron, Sydney and Elle.

And nothing to do with the PAMOM parade, but it was SUPER foggy outside this morning!

Recycling Crayola Bits

2011-10-24T16:18:00.002-05:00

The girls' color drawer in their desk was getting pretty sad. Tons of itty bitty colors that were only 1 inch long. I bought them a brand new box of colors and pulled out all the broken bits. We went over to Nanna and Popo's house to make new colors out of their old ones. I thought they'd love pulling all the paper off the colors since they are always doing it when I tell them not to. But apparently telling them to do it makes it not fun. So I ended up peeling most of the papers away while they played.

Then we placed the colors in a silicone mold. We did a solid color and lots of rainbow ones.

Baked at 175 for about 15 or 20 minutes.

While those were baking, Popo pulled out his Crayola color maker machine. He got it for a present and never got a chance to use it. After a few repairs, it was ready. You put the broken bits in the top, wait for the light bulb to melt the wax and pour it into the mold. (Izzie, Maddie and Popo)

Pouring the wax down into the mold. This machine takes a while and only makes 2-3 colors at a time.

Maddie, Popo and Izzie waiting for the wax to melt.

Back to our oven colors, they melted down and we stuck them in the fridge to cool off faster.

They popped out easily enough.

And we had a bunch of new crayons to use!

Maddie

and Izzie trying out their new star colors!

Great Idea

2011-10-22T08:45:00.000-05:00

Maddie: Momma, I have a GREAT idea!
Me: What is that?
Maddie: Let's go camping in Mexico!
Me: Oh... that is a good idea.
Maddie: We could visit Dora.
Me: That would be fun.
Izzie: We'll have to save our monies and buy a ticket!

Making Pizzas

2011-10-21T16:56:00.001-05:00

Making pizzas for dinner at Maddie and Izzie's request. We made pizza's earlier in the week and they really wanted to make them again with Sabrina. My favorite thing about these photos is the perspective coming from John. He's so much taller than me and his view of the kitchen is so different than mine! But as for the pizzas the girls did a great job.

Teamwork, the girls all worked together to put this block puzzle together. Sabrina, Maddie and Izzie.

Coolest Mom/Aunt Ever... yeah, I know.

2011-10-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

Sabrina, Maddie and Izzie. The day has FINALLY arrived. The girls have been counting down since last Sunday the day that their cousin Sabrina was coming to visit for the day. It's been a blast too. Here are photos from this morning.... I'll have to do a second post of things for the afternoon!

Izzie and Maddie

Izzie, Sabrina and Maddie

Lunch time!

Painting fun! I used paintbrushes, cut vegetables, toy plastic animals, cars, balls and more... then I let the kids just go to town!

Izzie's handprint.

We even started using found objects in nature to make prints.

Maddie toes.

Photoshoot & Favorite Things

2011-10-19T20:07:00.002-05:00

Morning at the Spa

2011-10-18T08:56:00.001-05:00

Ah... I just finished a spa treatment. The facility is pretty new so they don't have a massage table. The masseuses directed me to lay on the floor and gave me a couch pillow for my head. They then rolled up my sleeves and yoga pants, took off my socks and shoes and started giving me a massage with lotion. Well, actually they did need a little help with the lotion bottles, but like I said, the spa is pretty new and the masseuses haven't gone through too much training yet. I'm sure they were hired because they have really great conversation skills and delicate hands. Sometimes too delicate because they tickled my feet unmercifully and thought that it was hilarious. During my massage the two masseuses got into a bit of a squabble, but I didn't mind breaking it up. They quickly went back to work, rubbing the lotion on my arms and slathering it on my back. At the end of the session they were quite proud of themselves, but needed a bit help cleaning up. They had lotion pretty thick in between all their fingers and when they were done they were DONE. A towel helped get rid of the extra lotion quick enough. I smell like a field of wild cherry blossoms now. A really dense field, I think half a bottle of lotion was used in all. But I still tipped my masseuses and told them they did a great job and that I loved them both so much!

Izzie and Maddie, Massage Therapists.

Five Senses Game

2011-10-16T22:01:00.004-05:00

I am so excited about this! It was one of those ideas that kept morphing until I think it turned into something pretty cool. I think if I had a more final plan from the beginning I would have perhaps done cuter graphics, but this still turned out pretty cool and I didn't spend all that much time on it.

The idea started with an activity saw on Pinterest. It was for older kids and it had a list of things that each sense used under a flap of a photo of that sense. I thought it would be neat to do it with pictures, since we've been talking about our senses. But then, I wanted something more interactive than just flipping up one card to see a few pictures under it. So I thought I'd make some pockets and flashcards and have the girls put the cards in each pocket. As I was working on the graphics, and printing; it dawned on me that if I could do this in fabric it'd be even more fun.

So I printed the graphics on fabric, cut them out and started sewing. I wanted to keep it super simple since I did 20 "tokens" and the five pockets for the senses. And I want to make one for each girl. Although after finishing the first game, I kind of think this may be something that we only need one of, at least for awhile. Sometimes deciding if you need one or two of something is a hard call with twins. I originally was making this for their quiet boxes, but I think it's going to be too hard for a while since we have just started talking about the senses and they aren't good at naming them yet. So for right now, we'll play this game together.

The five senses are sewed as one long strip with five pockets. Each of the "tokens" has a marble in it to give it some heft and make it easier to stuff down in the pocket. I sewed up a super simple drawstring bag to store the entire game in. I can't wait to show the girls tomorrow!!

Picnic at Lake Lavon

2011-10-16T20:09:00.002-05:00

This afternoon Mom, Chris, the girls and I all went to Lake Lavon for a picnic dinner. John was going to go too, but his allergies hit him bad this afternoon and he basically spent the entire afternoon feeling miserable. That was after he took care of me this morning because I was feeling miserable from a migraine. Just as I started feeling better, he started feeling worse. I almost canceled our lake plans, but I'm glad I pressed on. We had a really good time, the weather was more than perfect. It was absolutely gorgeous outside. I took SEVENTY photos. I think I have an editing problem.

The girls were so excited and they had fun collecting sticks, leaves and looking at the different types of weeds and small flowers. There was a playground, but we never made it over there. After we had our picnic dinner, Chris and I took the girls down to the lake. I didn't bring flip flops or water shoes so it was treacherous trying to walk down to the lake over the rocky terrain. But we made it. The girls didn't flip out when they got mud on their feet and neither girl got upset when their pants got wet. Izzie even fell down once. They have made HUGE strides since last summer where the mud really upset them. They still don't like their clothes getting wet but they are getting better at tolerating that too. Chris and I couldn't get too close to the lake because it was quick sand at about 3 feet from the edge of the water. The girls were light enough that they could stand on top of it, but I sunk down past my ankles. Explaining quicksand isn't easy!

(Izzie is in the pink bunny shirt and Maddie is in the white shirt.)

Chocolate Smiles and Bubbles

2011-10-16T15:11:00.002-05:00

Izzie drinking some Raw Chocolate Milk: Raw Milk, cocoa powder, a few drops of stevia and a capful of vanilla.

Maddie with a chocolate smile.

Izzie and Maddie playing with bubbles. (Please excuse the messy backyard... it does need a bit of attention.)

Two More Quiet Box Games

2011-10-15T10:44:00.005-05:00

I decoupaged numbers into the bottom of an egg carton. I used pom-pom balls, but small rocks, buttons or whatever would work. Just make sure your kids don't put things in their mouth.

Counting/Number recognition. I decoupaged the paper onto some cardboard, then tied string with a knot on the front and back of the card so it can't be removed. I cut slits on the right side and they have to slide the string into the correct slot.

Quiet Boxes

2011-10-15T08:39:00.002-05:00

The girls are starting to give up naps. I'm impressed we made it to almost age four, which was my goal for naps. The past couple of weeks they have been taking sporadic naps, Maddie more often than Izzie. I've been requiring quiet time even if they don't nap by giving them books to read. But that has been getting old, especially for Izzie who hasn't been napping as often. Then my mom saw this idea about Quiet Boxes. Another blogger set up one Quiet Box for every day of the week for her little girl. I loved the idea and quickly have gone to work on making some. It takes some creativity to come up with ideas that will work for your child. For instance, one of her suggestions was play-doh. There is no way I'd ever put play-doh in a quiet box for my kids at this age. My girls when playing with play-doh go all out. Last time they made 100 "cookies" for their lovies. This meant they tore the play-doh into itty-bitty bits for each cookie.

But play-doh aside, there are a million other ideas that can be used. I'm trying to do mostly homemade games with a some store bought things thrown in there too. I got each bucket at the dollar store for one dollar each. You can also use shoeboxes. I'm only putting 4 or 5 things in each quiet box and I'm still giving them some books at each quiet time too. The first day I had them "nap" for about 45 minutes before giving them their boxes, but the second day they were too excited to play with their boxes again that trying to make them nap first did not work. So I'm just going with the flow and we'll see how this all plays out. Yesterday they were upstairs in their own quiet spaces (Maddie in the guest room, Izzie in their bedroom) for about an hour and half. Here are two of the games I have, I'll post photos of others soon.

Shadow Matching Cards. Can be used just to match or as a memory game.

Letter Matching.

Harvesting Purple {Green} Beans

2011-10-12T21:34:00.002-05:00

Are you familiar with the story of Winnie The Pooh going over to Rabbit's house and eating too much honey and then he gets stuck in Rabbit's front door? The girls were role playing this in their little play house. (Izzie & Maddie)

Maddie and Izzie. We went on a park playdate with Amy Locke and her identical girl twins Elle and Sydney and her son Aaron. My girls are a bit older than her twins and just a bit younger than Aaron. But they had a fun time playing with Aaron, they started playing hide and go seek around the playground.

Izzie posing and asked me to take her photo.

Maddie and Izzie

Maddie and izzie

Izzie so proud she typed her name.

Maddie too!

Harvesting Purple {Green} Beans at Nanna's house. This is Izzie and her harvest basket.

Maddie reaching for a bean.

Maddie, Izzie and Nanna

Izzie is proud of our big harvest!

Imagination

2011-10-11T07:08:00.001-05:00

Maddie in a sing song voice: "I have pretend tennis shoes and you don't!"

Izzie sounding exasperated, "but Maddie, everyone has pretend tennis shoes!!!"

Awesome Dad Award

2011-10-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

So tonight... before the bunny incident, I was giving the girls a bath. They were finishing up playing and I was in their room (right across the hall where I can keep an eye on them) straightening it up for bedtime. Maddie accidentally flung her Winnie The Pooh figurine out of the bathtub and it landed behind the toilet. She called out, "My Pooh-Pooh!" just as John came up the stairs. I called out to him, "Hey sweetie, can you get Maddie's Pooh from behind the toilet?" I said it without EVEN thinking of how that sounded. Without even flinching, questioning or anything of the sort, he goes in the bathroom to look for the "pooh." He said he couldn't find it and I said, "Well she said she flung it behind the toilet." At this point it dawned on me that he was looking for POOP. I said, "Her WINNIE the Pooh!" and then I assured him that he was the best dad ever, to look for "flung pooh" without even flinching. 100 points to John.

Visitor

2011-10-10T20:42:00.003-05:00

Tonight, I went out after putting the girls down. I hadn't been out for more than twenty minutes and I get a call from John."There is a RABBIT in the house!" he said as I answer the phone. Apparently there was a bitty bunny under the girls dresser and they were very scared calling for him. He went up to check out what the matter was, thinking they saw a bug or something. Then he saw something furry and thought it was a mouse. He captured it in a shoebox, but as he was leaving their room, the bunny escaped the shoe box and disappeared down the hallway. John spent time looking for it, but couldn't find it anywhere.

When I got home, I went to see if I could find the bunny, because I know I wouldn't get much sleep knowing there is a poor defensive bunny with no food or water and a cat in my upstairs. Luckily I found him in the first place I looked. I got the cat carrier down and put him in it with some water, spinach, strawberries and carrot bits. I want to show him to the girls in the morning so they aren't scared. Of course, I want to keep him. I love all animals! I think he's young enough that he wouldn't have gotten rabies or any other funky disease. But it is another animal to take care of, so I'll think on it. He's just so little!

Really too much for one post...

2011-10-09T12:53:00.002-05:00

I really have way too much content for one post, but I'm going to put it all in anyway, because it's my blog, and my rules. We've (okay, I) have been a homebody much of the past week, but we've still been having a lot of fun enjoying our backyard and doing arts and crafts around the home. We did go to our usual story time on Wednesday and Gymnastics on Thursday. Yesterday we went over to my moms house to give John some quiet time since he caught a cold. Mom had a fun surprise for the girls to play with (more on that in a bit.) I've been up to my usual craftiness this last week. My focus has been out of the kitchen (which I still love) but my creative juices haven't been on new recipes but new sewing projects. I can't wait to share all of them, but a bunch are Christmas gifts so they can't be posted for a very, very long time! Here are some of the photos from our week, and you know... a photo sums up more than words... so here you go...

Izzie and Maddie at gymnastics with Coach Katie.

Izzie is doing a Donkey Kick here. Sometimes she gets so exuberant that she flips ALL the way over.

Maddie and Izzie in the backyard before bedtime. One day, I hope... they really get that this is one of the most awesome aspects of being a twin. Having someone to ride the glider/seesaw with you. I used to BEG my mom for a twin sister so that I'd have someone to do this with me. She did eventually give me a baby sister, but then I had to wait YEARS for her to be big enough to ride the glider and by then I was over it!

This is a picture of me, by Izzie.

This is a picture of Daddy, by Izzie. Both girls share a very similar artistic style. I'll have to photograph one of Maddie's works soon.

Now the surprise my Mom had for the girls (me.) Old fruit and vegetables that needed to go in the compost became toys for the morning! Please meet, Mr. Cucumber Head.

Izzie

Maddie

Mr. Wide Cucumber Head (with upside down eyes)

Popo and Izzie

Izzie

Maddie

Mrs. AppleHead

Maddie painting a little wooden car.

Izzie

Maddie and Izzie

Loving Fall

2011-10-06T09:13:00.002-05:00

I absolutely love the weather we've been having lately. If it weren't for the mosquitoes that we seem to be having a problem with this fall, it'd be perfect! I've never noticed much of a mosquito problem before in Dallas but I think every single one in a 20 mile radius is attracted to Maddie and Izzie. My homemade bugspray is working pretty well, but you have to spray it all over them and well, I send them outside in clothes but within 15 minutes they are stripped down to their birthday suit just enjoying life like nothing else. So we are getting bites in unexpected places! But that hasn't stopped them, they are spending so much time playing in the backyard.

On Tuesday we went to the park, very spontaneously. I wish I had thought to bring bread for the geese, but we still had fun watching them. They played on the park equipment for about half an hour and they were ready to walk down to the pond. There was a huge flock of geese, some ducks, a crane, and a bunch of black birds. We just sat on the banks watching all the wild life for another half hour before we headed out to eat lunch. Again, I wish I had planned it better so we could have had a picnic, but it was still a fun day. I stopped by Pei Wei to get food and asked the girls if they wanted to eat at the restaurant or at home. They said, "At home!" I asked why and Izzie said, "Because I don't think this restaurant has any fruit!" They love their fruit that is for sure!

Yesterday was storytime. The letter of the week was F. So on the way to the library we came up with lots of F words. (Yeah, that sounds funny.) They are really getting good at coming up with their own words each week and not just agreeing to the ones I come up with. When we got to the library they saw Mrs. Dia and they ran over to her and gave her a big hug. I'm so glad to see them bonding with the librarians! Mrs Dia was their first storytime reader, but she hasn't done it for our session in a while. We've been going to Mrs. Debbie who is just as awesome.

Today is gymnastics. They are getting more comfortable with their new gym now. It took several weeks, but they are participating in the beginning circle time and warm up dance. That was different than their old gym and they had a hard time adjusting. Coach Katie needs a bit more experience directing the little kids, but she does okay. The girls still get a lot out of her class and they are learning new skills all the time.

Izzie fell down and Maddie is leaning in to kiss her boo-boo.

Maddie and Izzie digging for rocks.

Izzie watching the geese.

We started trying to skip rocks (or well, just chunk them in) and the geese thought we were throwing bread!

Izzie and Maddie after the bath with Daddy.

DIY Sidewalk Paint

2011-10-03T11:09:00.003-05:00

We had a bit of fun today with homemade sidewalk paint. Oh who am I kidding? We had a TON of fun. Maddie kept saying over and over, "We are such lucky girls." I asked her why she thought that and she said, "Because we get to paint ALL THE TIME!" (I'm glad she thinks so!) photo: Izzie & Maddie waiting patiently for me to take a photo of the paint I made. Cornstarch, water and food coloring and you are set to go.)

Maddie and Izzie painting.

Izzie

Maddie

Maddie and Izzie

Izzie and Maddie.

I had to paint some too. {awwww}

Izzie

Maddie

Sneak Peak

2011-10-01T17:58:00.001-05:00

The girls are going to be Mermaids for Halloween! I made the blue skirt today for Maddie. Izzie chose silver fabric. I'm so excited how the tail turned out. (It isn't crooked, my model was turned funny.)

Patterns and Puppets

2011-09-29T12:46:00.002-05:00

Fun photo of me.

Izzie playing in her fort.

Maddie

Maddie and Izzie.

Just hanging out.

Pattern game I made for the girls. I made lots of extra shapes and we can create patterns either by using color or shape.

Our table was a bit dirty this morning, the most fun way to clean a dirty table? Shaving Cream. It really works! This of course is Izzie before she dives into her "I."

Maddie got a big "M."

And SMOOSH. I didn't put smocks on them because these nightgowns needed to go in the wash anyway. We practiced making letters in the shaving cream. When you are done you just rub and rub until it disappears. You are left with a clean table.

Our first puppet show at home. This is Izzie

Izzie and Maddie

Izzie and Maddie.

For the puppet show, I just bought a tension rod that would fit in our office doorway and then I threw a blanket over it. I may get fancy one day and sew up some fabric and decorate it so it's a "fancy" theater. You can also add a second tension rod to the top to make a curtain to pull back. But this was a fast and fun start. I showed them how to hide behind the curtain and hold the puppets up (they need practice on that, obviously!) Then when I asked them to put a show on for me they didn't know what to say. So I got them to read me a book. Both girls "read" books to me and had a blast putting on a show!

I wish this was the worst it will get

2011-09-27T19:11:00.000-05:00

Maddie: Momma, I know a bad word. Izzie said it to me.
Me: Uh... what was the word?
Maddie: DISGUSTING. Izzie said a bad word.
Me: What is a bad word?
Maddie: One that you aren't supposed to say.
Me: Do you know what disgusting means?
Maddie: No, but Izzie said the dirty water outside was DISGUSTING.
Me: Disgusting is a great descriptive word for dirty water. If water is very yucky and dirty, it sure IS disgusting!
Maddie: Giggles.

More creative outpouring

2011-09-26T20:06:00.003-05:00

What have we been up to lately? I can't believe I haven't posted since last Wednesday! I guess I've just been busy living life. Like I posted recently on my Happiness post, I've just got so many ideas popping in my head that I can't keep up. I haven't been at my computer as much lately the past few days. If I have a spare 10 or 15 minutes you'll find me up in my art room. I'm crafting like crazy. I'm working on prototypes for things that I eventually want to start selling. Some of the things I've been working on are personalized towels, kid friendly picture frames for art work, cute pin cushions and more. My sewing machine is getting some serious mileage. It needs an odometer!

I even planned simple recipes to do in the kitchen this week because I'm so focused on art room that I'm not in a cooking "space." (As followers of The Frickin Chicken probably have noticed!) I even took out time to create a fun space for the girls to spend time with me in the art room. I painted an old dry erase board that no longer erased with chalkboard paint so they have a chalkboard to play with. I put little desks in there and crayons and colored pencils. I'm working on a cute storage system for their space but am gathering supplies to make it happen. And since I need a clock in that room and the girls have been loving to talk about time, I'm making a clock designed just for a toddler. I saw the idea on the internet somewhere and adapted it to my liking. I glued a hummingbird on the very fast second hand, a turtle on the slow hour hand and a bunny on the minute hand. I'll post a photo when it is complete. I know the girls are going to love it!

Over the weekend, John's parents came over to visit and help us install the dishwasher they bought for us. That was a huge surprise and we are so thankful for it! I was super impressed with both Tom and John with their installation attitudes. Both of these men are known for getting more than a bit frustrated with projects that don't go smoothly. But there wasn't a cross word said during the entire process, which included water spewing across the entire kitchen, up on the ceiling and almost flooding the floor. Besides that, mishap, it went smoothly and now I have a new shiny dishwasher!

Today is my Mom's birthday! We went to Hobby Lobby with her this morning to browse around and gather art supplies. Then we met Chris for lunch. We took the girls to Dim Sum for the first time. Since it wasn't like anything they were used to, we tried to explain what it was like before we got there. Dim Sum is sort of like Chinese Tappas or Appetizers. The waitresses push around carts and on the carts are little plates that have only about 4 small bites/dumplings on each one. You pay per plate. What we forgot to mention to the girls is that they don't serve silverware to the adults. When the girls saw all of us pick up chopsticks and start eating they were completely shocked. They could NOT figure out why we were eating with sticks! I told them we'd get them some little kid chopsticks so they could practice!

Tomorrow I'm going to tour a Montessori school that is nearby. My sister is a Montessori Teacher (unfortunately not close by) and I've learned a lot about the Montessori methods over the past couple of years through her. I really, really love everything I've learned about Montessori. Unfortunately they are usually expensive, but I'm going to see what the actual cost is and if perhaps there is scholarships, sibling discounts, ect. This is just an inquiry, right now our plan is to keep the girls home during pre-school. I am doing lessons with them often to get them ready for kindergarten. Anyway, it's a fun activity for us tomorrow!

Park Weather!

2011-09-21T20:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I took the girls to Pirate's Cove Park in Wylie, Texas. We used to come here when the girls were little (there is a baby section of the park) but it's been closed for a year and a half for construction around the park. This time we got to play in the big kid part! This park isn't that easy to find in the first place, but they moved the entrance and I ended up on some service road trying to find the parking lot. It was quite hilarious. I ended up having to get two maintenance workers to move their trucks and show me how to get out of the "restricted" area that I somehow got us into. Appropriately I need to figure out who is in charge of Parks and Recreation in Wylie and write them a letter about proper signage! We did make it to the park and the girls had a great time. It's pretty big and they didn't even know where to start!

Maddie climbing the spider web.

Izzie. This was challenging enough to be very fun, but not too much that it was frustrating.

My girls love "spinning wheels" as they call them and this one was BIG and made rain noises when you turned it. Way cool.

They loved all the nooks and crannies this park has and called them "houses."

Isn't it GREAT to have a twin sister? Izzie is helping Maddie on the moving balance beam.

Maddie helping Izzie.

This was almost too challenging for them, but they made it across!

Park in the morning, over to Nanna's house to ride tricycles in the afternoon. Here is Izzie.

Maddie

Love this shot!

Taking time to draw some funny faces on rocks with chalk.

Making Soaked Wheat Pancakes for breakfast this morning. Maddie is taking her turn in stirring the batter. We learned a new word. Gloppy.

Izzie. By the way, this whisk I got for Christmas this last year from my mother-in-law is awesome for stirring batters. It is just right in breaking up everything without overworking the batter.

Happiness

2011-09-20T14:11:00.002-05:00

My girls made their beds this morning. All by themselves without me telling them to. Will they do it tomorrow? Who knows. I really don't care. What I love is that they are learning by example. The example I am trying my best to be for them. I never used to make my bed. I didn't get the point. It used to drive me crazy when I spent the night at my Mema's house and she'd make the bed almost before I was even out of it in the morning. And then you couldn't sit on the bed much less lay on it ALL day long, until bedtime. But when you are a kid at Mema's house, crawling in bed with a book, or to watch tv in her bed are just fun things to do. It drove me crazy that she made the bed every morning!

Mom never made me make my bed and that was cool with me. She was a single working mother for most of my childhood and she knew she had to pick which battles mattered. I totally get that. And we were a happy, healthy family with unmade beds. (Mom, I'm so glad you saw that there are more important things in life than a made bed!) So you are probably wondering why I'm excited that my girls made their beds this morning without me saying one single word about them making a bed.
I like having an orderly house. I feel more creative, calm and at peace when there is no clutter, few nicknacks and empty spaces. This isn't for everyone, but for me, having a clean home works. For some reason after the kids came keeping my house clean and orderly became hard. The excuse, "well duh, you just had twins" only was partly true. I think the societal excuse that "I just had twins" made it true for myself. And yes, in the beginning when they were little infants, some household chores did drop way below the important level just because lack of sleep was a major operating concern. But as they've gotten older, "having twin toddlers" was just an excuse and I was buying into it. I wasn't happy that my house wasn't clean and I thought I deserved someone else to do the work. How funny.

Then I was in a seminar at Landmark Education and during one of the exercises we were doing, I declared that I was going to BE HAPPY. I didn't know what that meant, I just knew that I was complaining a lot and I thought I was happy but I really wasn't. I was waiting for someone else to MAKE ME HAPPY. What I learned is that it's my life and I'm 100% responsible for it. I choose happiness. The next week, I was flying around my house, doing laundry, singing songs, picking up clutter, vacuuming, humming and thriving. Housework was no longer the enemy. I was happy cleaning and the cleaner my house got the happier I was. And then the creativity struck. With the stress of "having to clean today" gone, ideas and projects have been POURING out of my being like never before. I can't even keep up with the inspirations that I keep having. I finally sat down and wrote them all down, took a deep breath and am prioritizing them. The funny thing is I'm doing more each day now that I ever was before. At the end of the day, I can't believe how much I have accomplished.

So like I said before, growing up I never did get the point of making a bed. What I understand now is that there still is no point. BUT if it makes you happy and at peace to walk into a bedroom and see order, a calm space and tranquility, then there is a good REASON for making your bed. So for the past few months I've been waking up and making my bed before anything else. It's a sort of reminder to myself that I'm starting THIS day off BEING HAPPY. It's a reminder when I walk in or past my room that I am responsible for my feelings and it takes work. No one gives you happiness, aliveness or self expression. They are created by you. I could just have easily chosen some other ritual as a reminder, but I chose to make my bed.

A few weeks ago, the girls started noticing that I was making my bed every morning. They asked me why. I just told them, "It makes Momma happy and proud of her room when I make the bed fancy." They'd run off and go play. Just like my mom, I did not want to have a battle about making a bed. Making the bed has become a symbol for me, it has meaning to me. It took me 31 years to make my bed. And just because I had an epiphany about it, doesn't mean I think it's important. If I made my kids make their beds, they'd grow up resenting making their bed and probably would not make their beds as adults. But they made their bed today without me saying one word. They didn't even brag about it and tell me. I just noticed it. I told them that they did a beautiful job making their beds this morning. They told me they used teamwork. They said they were proud of their fancy rooms and they were proud to use teamwork. THAT is the lesson I want to teach and I want to teach it by example.

Maddie and Izzie

Knock Knock

2011-09-19T08:42:00.000-05:00

My kids are trying to understand jokes. I think I'm going to be checking out a book of toddler jokes at the library this week. They need some help.

Izzie: Mom! I'm going to tell you a JOKE.
Me: Okay, tell me!
Izzie: A Walking Flower! Hahahahahaha!!!
Me: That's your joke?
Izzie: Yes, silly, flowers DON'T walk! hahahahaha!!

You've got to admit... it' was pretty funny.

Photos

2011-09-18T20:23:00.001-05:00

Maddie Daddy and Izzie.

Maddie and Izzie coloring in my art room.

Took time to take some awesome photos on my bike ride. Too bad I didn't have my real camera, just my cell phone. This cloud was AMAZING.

Pretty sunset.

Nice weather

2011-09-17T18:43:00.001-05:00

Izzie and Maddie riding bikes

Painted Bathtub

2011-09-16T18:09:00.000-05:00

I made the girls some bathtub paint today and let them play in my bathtub. This is so much fun! Two nights ago Maddie got bitten up by mosquito and it's been pretty miserable. We've tried various itch creams and even gave her some benadryl at night time. She still ended up waking up about 10 times during the night. This morning she was still itchy, so we thought a long bath might help. I also put some lavender essential oil in the tub along with a sock full of oatmeal. You squeeze the raw oats and the starch that squeezes out is supposed to help soothe itchy skin for eczema. I figured maybe it'd help Maddie out some. Not sure if it was the paint as a distraction or the oatmeal/essential oils, but the bath did help for a little while.

After the bath, she was feeling better and it was close to lunch so we sweet talked John into going to Brooklyn's Pizza with us. It was a fun outing and delicious one too! The girls still were in a painting mood when we got home so I broke out the watercolors for them to play with. That entertained them for a full hour until naptime!

Naptime was a bit crazy for me, since I decided to make a quick run to the grocery store. It's about 15 minutes from the house. I got there and realized I didn't have my wallet. That meant back home and back to the store again. Hopefully I learned my lesson! After our pizza lunch, no one was super hungry for dinner tonight though, so I just made the girls a light dinner and now they are out playing outside again.

This time I equipped them with some homemade bug spray that I got off my new favorite website, Crunchy Betty. It's really simple to make: 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/8 cup rubbing alcohol, 1/8 filtered water, 25 drops of essential citronella oil, 25 drops of essential eucalyptus oil and 50 drops of essential peppermint oil. Mix together and spray away. It smells nice and has no icky chemicals.

Oh, and as for the bathtub paint, it's simple to make too! A couple of tbsp of cornstarch for each color and a few drops of food coloring. Mix with just enough water to form a loose paste. It wipes right up. This would also be awesome for sidewalk paint, which I plan to use with the kids soon!

I'll always be needed

2011-09-15T12:02:00.001-05:00

Maddie, "Me and Sissy are getting so good at doing everything all by ourselves! Oh, but don't worry, sometimes we will still need you and dad."

Puddle Jumping

2011-09-14T14:17:00.000-05:00

When we last visited Mema's house in towards the end of July, she bought the girls some umbrellas. They have been waiting to use them since JULY. It did start to sprinkle one day a few weeks ago, but before we could even blink it stopped. Well today, we were all cuddled up on the couch reading through the huge stack of library books we checked out this morning when rain starts falling from the sky. As quick as we could we got out our umbrellas and ran outside. The rain lasted maybe five minutes, but the girls didn't care. They were twirling and dancing and having a great time with their umbrellas. Plus there was just enough rain to put down some decent size puddles. The had fun splashing, jumping, skipping and running through them. Izzie even tried to swim in one.

We stayed out there for a good 30-40 minutes, at the end of which I was drenched. Not from the rain, but from the humidity! But it was good fun. There is more rain scheduled for later this week so hopefully we'll get a chance to really dance and sing in the rain. I have too many favorite photos of our little adventure, so I'm just going to post them all. Izzie is in the flower dress and Maddie is in the red dress.

On sharing

2011-09-14T07:54:00.001-05:00

Morning monitor conversation:

Background: the girls have a clock that turns green at 7 am signaling they can leave their room and play in the family room until I get up.

Maddie woke up first and was playing with a dollhouse doll. She took him in the room where Izzie (was) sleeping.

Izzie (not all the away awake): That is MINE!
Maddie: no mine! I had him first!
(Back and forth about 20 times.)
Maddie (came in my room): momma I had him first!
Me: tell sissy he was yours since you had him first and she can have him when you are done.
Maddie: OK
She goes tells sissy. Then comes back to me.
Maddie: sissy wants him now.
Me: you woke sissy up, she's a bit grumpy right now. Stay out of your room until she's up.
Maddie (to Izzie): you can have the doll now, I'm going to go play with my leappad book.
Izzie: NO! I want to play with the leappad book!!!
Maddie ( in a very calm soothing voice): Izzie its okay. We have 2 of those....

On time management

2011-09-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

Izzie: Maddie, please share that toy.
Maddie: okay I will, in 20 minutes.
Izzie: But Maddie, 20 minutes is too long. It's all the way to Christmas. Do you really want to wait all the way until Christmas to share that toy?
Maddie: no, that would be long. That's even after my birthday. Maybe I'll share it in 5 minutes.
Izzie: okay, I guess I can wait THAT long. *deep sigh*