We love you!!

Double the Fun

The kids have had a busy week with Nana this week! I've put just a random assortment of pics that I've snapped in the evenings this week and then some ramblings from the stories and anecdotes she's passed along. I have no doubt that Nana has several great pics of the kids on her camera that I'll have to borrow at some point. I keep suggesting Nana just log on and do a little update for me some days, but she's not "taking me up" on that offer yet - haha!

TJ is waking up with dry diapers most mornings and after naps - woo-hoo!! Almost all of his #2s are in the potty!!! TJ's second potty chart is almost halfway filled. He picked a fire truck and a police truck with lights and loud, annoying sirens for his surprise when he filled his 1st potty chart. Allyson has had dry diapers a couple mornings this week! She's doing better with #2 on the potty, but she still waits for her nap-time diaper many days. Her 1st potty chart is almost filled!!

As I said, the kids and Nana have had a busy week. It was rainy and yucky the beginning half of the week so they did lots of indoor fun. Nana had several cool art projects that she did with the kids (see pics below). Today, especially, was busy for the kids! They saw a snake on the sidewalk on the way to Nana's car. Aunt Donna has since reassured me it was "just" a king snake and I want this kind of snake around. He might be "only" 18 inches long and he might eat other snakes, but any snake that I see is not wanted around here. Once The 3 Amigos made it to the car unharmed by the large serpent, the kids helped Nana at the post office and finally went to the city park. They watched some professional tree cutters use chainsaws and climbing equipment, etc... to drop two LARGE trees at the park. The kids kept asking me tonight if I could hear the trees falling. They had McDonald's for lunch at Nana's house and then did lots of digging. Apparently TJ decided he really wanted to dig today. He dug in Papa's mulch this morning and then this afternoon he dug in the sandbox. He eventually moved on to play with the bubble lawnmower and the slide. Allyson was digging, too, but this afternoon she thought it was cute to ask, "We can yell outside?" and proceeded to shrilly scream just because she could. Obviously, we have had many discussions about using inside voices... we yell outside only... We may have to amend that discussion soon if she's already looking for loopholes.

Earlier this week, Nana brought over the kids' fall/winter wardrobe that she's picked up on clearance sales for the past year. We are going to have some trouble finding jeans for TJ - he's tall enough for 3T clothes, but he seems to have a severe case of the noassatol syndrome so the waists will be too big. (read that syndrome name slowly, breaking up the syllables...) The kids were trying on their new clothes before washing and tag-cutting occurred. Nana suggested to TJ that he was going to need a belt for his pants. Allyson quickly disappeared, only to reappear with Joe's belt to help TJ out. Allyson also received a purse out of some goodwill goodies that were passed my way. Princess Ally carried that around ALL day long with papers and a calculator in it. (Later that night, she was put on purse restriction for a few days when she smacked TJ upside the head with her purse, completely unprovoked - this time.)

TJ and Allyson wanted to take pictures of each other instead of ME taking the pictures tonight... I'm thinking if they can take unassisted, decent pics at age two and a half, they may need some advice from my friend Jill (wows me with her photography of twins) or Melissa (also a fabulous photographer that did the kids' two year portraits) in the very near future. Allyson's picture of TJ... TJ's picture of Allyson and I...

Fingerpainting pumpkin art project. "Stem" was a word of the day - the kids will point out stems on all of the fruit now... TJ's

Allyson's pumpkin...

Allyson's display from the top down: Coloring with markers (last week's project) cut into apples with stems; Fall/Halloween collage of pictures Nana cut out of magazines for them; Torn paper jack o'lanterns.

TJ's display...

TJ showing the Pittsburgh Steelers pride last Sunday. I had both of the kids saying "Go Steelers!" I'm afraid to introduce the Terrible Towel to the kids this early for fear of who's going to get hit with it. Look at this face and tell me he's not into some sort of mischief!Piggyback rides! Our chiropractor will be thrilled to see that Joe and I are no longer needed to give piggyback rides to the kids. We all had so much fun wrestling and piggyback riding the other evening! The kids were ready for more long after we were able to continue!

I can't remember if I told the story of library time a couple weeks ago... TJ and Allyson were singing and interacting during the story, songs, and fingerplays. Apparently Allyson was having a really great time and not feeling shy at all as she started belting out "Twinkle, Twinkle" louder than any of the rest of the children. This did not surprise me at all as we hear it quite often at the dinner table. The kids have actually started making up their own songs to belt out at the top of their lungs at the dinner table (this would be a time they get the "inside voice lecture" that we will be amending soon). The other night's song was "I love you. I love you. I love you...." Very sweet!!! and very loud!!! Tonight the song was "Itsy, Bitsy Spider". After several tries, I finally got a decent version on video for your viewing pleasure. Shortly before this video, we had a spider on the storm door that they were singing to. I couldn't post that video because halfway through the song, the kids started using their hand to hide the spider from each other, then pushing started, and the song sort of changed to some sort of made up song... did I mention it is also a full moon this week?

Geocaching! AKA Treasure Hunting

We took a family outing yesterday to go geocaching. For those that aren't familiar with this, people hide "treasures" all over the world and give clues via GPS coordinates on the website http://www.geocaching.com/. Some caches are a "take a treasure, leave a treasure" kind of thing. Some are just sign the log book in the cache, etc... You can log back into the geocache site when you return home and leave a message or just log that you found it or didn't find it. Joe checked out the site the other day and found some nearby "hidden treasures" so we had a plan for the day. We set off with a handheld GPS and a camera for a day of hunting and fun.
There is a beautiful nature trail nearby with a couple of hidden treasures. We didn't even know this nature trail existed!! We had coordinates for the one that didn't involve crossing the creek (Amanda I was a wimp and worried I would slip and break a toe while helping the kids across the creek - haha!). The kids were excited and loved hiking and playing by the creek. Joe showed them how a stick will float down the creek when you toss it into the current. That was entertainment for them!

This seemed to be a stance for Allyson in several pictures today - she was actually dancing she was so excited. We found our first treasure hidden under some smaller rocks between two big rocks. We let the kids actually move the little rocks to find the treasure.

Our first treasure had a log book to sign and you were supposed to take a picture of yourself. We left a picture of the kids holding the box. The "owner" of this cache has a site that you can go look at the pictures people have left previously.
This was part of our hike. The kids were all for going under the tree. Joe and I just went a little off the trail to go around it.
"We did it!!" so they sang... We were able to look at lots of wildlife and nature along our hike. TJ had a little trouble slowing down so he stumbled over a lot of the tree roots - that just gave him a chance to check out the nature up close.

We went on one of the side trails and discovered this beautiful lake. The kids immediately found looooong sticks and started "fishing". (I'm seeing some future photo ops for Nana around here!! Better get ready, Caroline.)

Awwww!!! hugs! This might be one of my favorite pics of the day!
We took a ride on Grandmom's golfcart to hunt for a second geocache, but we didn't find that one. We were getting close to lunch time and there were a ton of mosquitoes so we didn't look for very long. We'll try again another day. We headed out to a park here in town for a picnic lunch by the lake before heading home for naps... ahh! It was gorgeous weather and a beautiful day of fun. I loved watching the kids light up and clap their hands about "treasure hunting." We can't wait to head out again for more treasure hunting. There are several caches hidden nearby so if anyone wants to visit us and go for a treasure hunt, just let us know!!
I have updated pics and stories for our September posts - Dress Up Fun and Callaway Gardens. (Finally!)

Flu Shots? check

The drama started about two weeks ago when I emailed the pediatrician for flu shot appointments. I got an email back letting me know that the practice was closing at the end of the month so they were not setting any more appointments. Ummm??? When were you going to mention this to your patients? So, we asked around and started our search for a pediatrician (again! This is our third one!). We finally chose a new dr. and set up appointments to get their flu shots. Yesterday afternoon Nana drove the kids to meet us after work and then she scooted before the kids were traumatized. The kids did well the whole time!! Allyson got a little nervous when we first went back, but she was okay after she watched TJ do everything. (A plus to having twins - unless they are both nervous!) Allyson always looks and feels to be heavier than TJ, but usually they are within ounces of one another. This time she weighed in at 30 pounds and he was 28 pounds. They are still close in height although he's a smidgen taller. When it came time for shots, Allyson got to go first - big crocodile tears but not much crying. TJ was worried about Allyson but crawled up into my lap for his turn. He told me "ouch!" but no crying for him. They were both THRILLED to get bandaids even though they were the boring brown ones. I also continued the tradition that I grew up with: You get a shot, you get ice cream. Joe went to pick up a box of ice cream and I headed home with the kids to start our spaghetti dinner.

TJ has become quite argumentative this last week... "I don't want to nap." "I don't want to take a bath." "No, you clean up the toys." etc... He told me something he did with Nana and I said, "N0 WAY!" He let me know, "You don't say no, mommy." Hmmm... so, he does hear what we are saying. While TJ was savoring his scoop of ice cream, I mentioned having mine later on. TJ let me know, "No, mommy you don't get ice cream. You didn't get a shot." I tried to let him know that mommy's can have ice cream, too and he reminded me that "No, the dr. didn't look at your eyes. You can't have ice cream." Smart cookie that one.

All in all, it was a great visit, thankfully!!! And now the kids will be able to safely play with cousin Caroline when she's in town in November. I guess now I need to go get mine... *sigh*

Fun at Callaway Gardens!

We had an awesome day at Callaway Gardens this weekend!! Aunt Diana, Uncle Chris, and Jacob have passes to Callaway Gardens and we were invited to tag along for the Hot Air Balloon Festival this year. To make the fun even better, Aunt Donna joined us too! We unloaded all of our gear onto the beach, set up canopies and coolers, had lunch, and then headed to the butterfly house. The kids thought was so cool to see the butterflies up close. They were able to see their tongues curling and uncurling on the fruit... I think they would have stayed here all day just to watch them drink the fruit juices. Somewhere in here, one of the butterflies landed on my head. Allyson wasn't too sure when it flew pretty close to her. Look at those smiles (even if it was 80000 degrees in there).

We sat on the bench for awhile trying to get the butterflies to land on us.

TJ was VERY intent on getting a butterfly to land on him. He sat (and then stood) so still with his hand out just waiting for one to land. Poor guy had too many other people coming and going by the fruit stand to let one settle on him. He was so patient though!!

On the other side of the butterfly house is a fish pond. All three kids (TJ, Ally, and Jacob) liked watching the fish.

We played on the beach for a good part of the day and then grilled out dinner while the hot air balloons started launching. It was cool watching the balloons float up and over us. The kids LOVED playing in the sand and in the water on the beach all together. Jacob took a break from his dinner to watch the balloon launch...

As we finished dinner and watched the last balloon float away, we decided it was time to pack up and head home. Thanks Aunt Diana and Uncle Chris for a (cheap) day of fun!!! It was a beautiful day and we all had a BLAST!!!!!

*Little Ears Beware!!* Boom-Boom Dancing!

Nana has been working with the kids for a while now (like last school year) to get them dancing more to music. Allyson has always been more willing to dance and groove to the music. Judging from the video below, I'd say we can check this one off on the goal chart. Please beware and preview this before showing around little ears. There is a curse word, but little ears may not pick up on it. We'll be more careful when letting kids dance to music off the ipod. ;-) Even with the one little blurt, I couldn't resist sharing the video. The kids like to watch their reflections in the TV as they dance, sing, or play - that's what he is looking at as he dances. (Since I have post-dated this to date-of-occurrence, but writing it a week later... This morning at breakfast, Allyson started asking for music to dance. When I asked what she wanted to hear, she said she wanted to dance to "Boom-Boom-HOW!" The real title is Boom-Boom-Pow)

This dancing session lasted OVER a half-hour! The kids were red-faced and sweaty by the time we got to baths. We loved listening to them laugh and grooving with them!

Zippy Rewind

Joe and I decided it was time for Herbie to no longer be the shaggy dog, and get a custom grooming this weekend. We've been taking Herbie to be groomed every few months, but occasionally we tackle this project on our own to save a few bucks. The last time we had the time or patience to do this, the kids sat in their bouncy seats in the shade of the garage and kicked at the toys hanging in front of them between bottle feedings. Needless to say, it's been awhile. We gave the kids breakfast and got everything together and headed to the garage. The kids played well and stayed in the garage (for the most part) where we could watch them while shaving Herbie. Nana and Papa Tim came by to scope out the fun for a little bit too. I had to do a rewind though because the kids were just too funny.
Here they have decided to share the car (still holding up after finding it at a thrift store for $5!) July of 2008 - after the recent purchase of our new car. They were politely sharing the car then, too.

When I first started back to work after the kids were born, they went to the sitter's house, Mrs. Shellye. She found Zippy the Zebra at a thrift store and gave it to us. I figured the kids had outgrown it long ago so it's been sitting in the garage waiting for a garage sale. Turns out, the kids LOVE to bounce on zippy and "hee-haw" loudly (not yee-haw, but hee-haw) in the shade of the garage.

Zippy in April of 2008 (13 months)

Zippy in August of 2009 (2 yrs 5 months). Look how big they are getting!!!