Dirty Dirt Dirt

I am JUST getting calm enough to let the girls play in the dirt. It probably has something to do with the fact that they don't eat it or throw it anymore. I just make sure the clothes they have on are already stained and I let them loose. And I don't look.

It was so cool, beautiful, and breezy last night that we all went in the backyard to just chill. Even though we have a nice selection of climbing appartus-es and slides my darling daughters go straight for the back of our yard where hardly any sun gets through the trees and there are nice surfaces of brown calling to them: "Psst ... Katie ... Maddie ... c'mon over here. Those clothes need a little color on them."

And of course Mr. Andy Man cannot let fun be had without him.

"Just makin' it easier for them."

The wind was blowing the dirt away before it even made it into the bowl.

All I needed was a pitchfork and this picture would have been complete.

My babies are almost three - when did that happen?

Most of you know that after Andy and I were married we were unable to get pregnant for two years. I now know that two years is not that long of a time. I have read incredible stories from many blog friends who have been trying for much longer. But at the time I had no other perspective - none of my friends had any problems - so two years were an eternity. We finally were able to have our baby girls through IVF and are so thankful everyday.

The girls are turning three in less than a month and it blows my mind! Where did my little babies go? Katie, especially, is growing bigger and bigger everytime I look at her. She is close to two inches taller than Maddie at this point. (Maddie is destined to have her mother's body type - poor thing!)

We are celebrating with their cousins (second cousins, really - they have no first cousins, yet) in a few weeks and I decided to make their invitation Check it out ...

I am a digiscrapper now and I thought, "I can do this" - and do this I did. I used a kit called "Birthday Bash" by Nikki Scott. You can find her products at Elemental Scraps, an online Digiscrap store I spend a good chunk of time browsing.

The theme is "The Wonder Pets" - and I am so excited. We all love the show - Andy and I can sit through them and crack up the whole time. That little Ming Ming is just adorable. I found a picture on the web and copied and pasted it. The colors of the kit match it perfectly.

I have lots of planning to do!!!!!

Oh no, I napped

Nooooooooo! I fell asleep at around 4:30 for an hour! Bad Rose! The girls were playing so nicely - they love playing with Little People and small plastic figures. They set them up in a ton of situations - mostly from whatever books or TV shows we recently read/saw - and squeek cute little dialog back and forth to each other. They were so calm and peaceful I drifted off on the recliner. So now we shall see what tonight is like. My Aunt Audrey suggested (in my comments) to get Simply Sleep by Tylenol, and my question for those of you who take it is this (or Bendryl) ... how often can I take it without it being a bad thing? Don't want to get addicted! And I would! :)

The girls were really cute today. Katie is in a "put little things in a bag/box/basket and tote them around the room. So she'll gather things in groups - play utensils, or these small letters we have, or large beads for stringing - and put them in whatever container she is attached to for the day - preferable with a handle. Then she gets dressed up in this pink princess dress that is all ripped apart (poor princess!), a hat that is too small for her but she squishes it on anyway, whatever stray bibs are laying around, and her bag of loot. She struts around from place to place and just does her thing. It cracks us up.

Maddie has a memory like no other. She can memorize a book or a show after just seeing it once. I kid you not. So she'll take her Little People and Sesame Street figures and acts out what is in her head. The girls are on a "Little Bear" kick and her figures were acting out one of the episodes today. I just sit and watch her - it's amazing.

(Oh - and I am totally doing "rest time" when they give up their naps! Thanks for the suggestions, Yaya and Saf!)

In need of a silver pen

So I ordered our Christmas cards through Shutterfly and I was so happy with the design I chose. I wanted it to be different from the previous years ...

Christmas 2006 ... I loved this card. I loved their dresses, I loved the circular space to write in ... just loved it all. It was our first "picture card" and I felt like I finally belonged to that exclusive little club! hehe

Christmas 2007 ... I liked the horizonal look a lot. I liked the bright white, too. Also, since it took us about 3 hours to take this picture and I still wasn't 100% thrilled with the results - I included some closeup shots of the girls from different pictures, which everyone else loved, too. Their dress came with a black velvet bolero but when we put it on them it just looked like they had on a black dress, so I took it off of them.

So I did the red - and I did the white - so I thought ... "green would look nice this year!" I also dressed them in a non-traditional Christmas dress. They are ivory and teal and magenta. A very small paisley design on an ivory corderoy jumper and a long sleeve ivory onesie with a cute collar. I bought them at Janie & Jack for like 90% off on clearance when they were only a few months old. I got it in a size 3T - and lucky for me it just fits Katie.

So looking at only green cards, I found one I really liked. I don't want to post it here because I want my relatives to be surprised when they see it for the first time. Here is a sample of the card, just to show you the color ...

Pretty green right? Well it printed up about a thousand times darker. So dark that my black Sharpie doesn't even show up on it! Here is what it really looks like ...

BUT DARKER! I couldn't even get it to look as dark as it really is without going into black - which it might as well be. And the pictures printed really dark, too. I used a shot of them in front of our tree and didn't use the flash to get a nice glow - but it just looks like I used a bad picture.

Not a big deal, I know - there are much worse things in this world. I'll just go out and get a silver pen. And I'll remember to compensate for brightness next year. But it's just those types of little things that drive me nutso.

Make me feel better. Tell me something that drives you nutso even though it's really not a big deal. You'll feel better! PROMISE!

How to make a really big mess in under an hour

We decided to make sugar cookies with the girls this afternoon. I looked and looked for my Christmas cookie cutters, but no luck. So we just used a round glass and it was great!

We had sprinkles and candy in little bowls. The girls had parchment paper to work on. The cookie dough was nice and cold.

Then Maddie started eating the M&Ms off the raw cookies. Katie ate them right out of the bowl. Sugar rush ensued!

Batch one in the oven!

Yummy!

Even Daddy got in on the act with his "KM" cookies.

Messy messy table!

Then came the time to chow down.
You couldn't walk one step without getting nonpareils on your socks! Andy swiffered for the next hour!

Now that I think about it, it wasn't that bad! It didn't take too long, really. It was the perfect after-nap activity!

But we are still stepping on nonpareils.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

From Twice as Nice

Twins in Tutus

Maddie

Katie
(poor little thing had a 102 degree fever when she went to bed - came out of nowhere)

The Day After (or a few days after at this point)

I hope that all your Thanksgivings went well! We had a nice, quiet day. It was me, Andy, the girls, my mom, and one of my brothers. Andy's parents would have been there, too, but his mom had cataract (sp?) surgery the week before and it takes a while for her eyes to adjust. We missed them!


The day started the night before with the brinin' 'o' the turkey...



Then I made peanut butter cookes with the candy in the middle. I'm watching League of Their Own on www.hula.com. Awesome site - check it out.



The finished product. This was a zoom-in with my ... ahem ... new thing-a-ma-job ... and I LOVE IT!


Katie spent the morning out with Daddy raking up leaves. She is holding a bright neon green bucket. He rakes the leaves into a pile and she scoops them up in her bucket and dumps them in the garbage can. I love that she is such an "outside girl" - it keeps Andy company and cracks him up beyond belief.


Maddie and Grandma stayed inside and read books. She is just like her Mama - an "inside girl"!


While that was happening, I made my apple pie ... which I was not too pleased with at the end, although my brother, Eric, loved it. The texture was off for me - I am going back to Paula Deen's recipe for Christmas.


Speaking of Uncle Eric ...


We had a nice antipasta spread before dinner - I totally filled up on bread, fresh mozzarella, and marinated artichokes. Next year I am thinking of an appetizer only Thanksgiving ... hmmm?


The girls woke up from their nap just in time to catch the end of the antipasta - and were in good moods, thank goodness. So often Katie wakes up in a total sour mood - and it can take her an hour to recover. This was a good day!

OK ... I didn't take any shots of dinner. I forgot! I was concetrating on getting the sides to all finish at the same time, carve the turkey, get the girls prepped for dinner (bibs, etc.) and I didn't want the you-know-what-that-begins-with-a-"c" getting dirty - so none of those!

After dinner, Katie had a diaper explosion - whoa Nelly. Uncle Eric couldn't take it. Covered his eyes instantly and looked like he was going to faint. It required a bath so we decided just to bathe them both - which is always a project in and of itself. They love it though - and Andy bathed them so who am I to complain? My mom did the dishes during this event (rock on)!

After that was over, Uncle Eric (Katie was calling him Uncle Meric) played Alphabet Bingo with the girls and just rolled all around the room with them. Good thing I don't have any living room furniture!

We ended up in front of the TV where Andy and I proceeded to conk out for a bit while my mom and brother played with the girls. When it hit 7pm, we gave them their milk and they went to bed. We sent Eric home with a bunch of food, including the pie ... my mom left ... Andy and I settled down and it was an early night.

And that was our lovely day. Hope yours was the same.

Little girls in sweatshirts

One of the many freebies in the goody bag I got in Atlantic City was a medium sized black sweatshirt that says "Trump" on it. I knew my mom would love it because (1) it's free, and (2) IT'S FREE!

Katie saw it sitting on a table and wanted to wear it - and after I fit it on her she started cracking up and running "the loop." You know, the "living room-kitchen-dining room" loop that exists in 99% of homes out there.

Maddie was having none of that! "I. Want. A. Sweat. Shirt." - she said in precisely spacely Maddie-tones.

I go digging around to realize I HAVE NO OTHER SWEATSHIRTS because I give them all to my mom. I feel too claustrophobic in them. But then I remember ... the only one that I saved was from high school - my cheerleading sweatshirt. I prayed it was in the drawer I thought it was ... and ... YES!

Maddie wiggled into it - and I ran for the camera. They were so happy and excited they posed for me - which they have NEVER done before.

Fascinated with little white socks sticking out ....

"Reach for the ceiling!" - Aww - Katie blinked ...

My favorite shot of all ...

I love these little darlings.

Away

Hey all - I will be away until Sunday. The NJ Association of Twin Mothers Clubs is having their annual convention in Atlantic City this weekend - whoo hoo! I'm especially excited because each club votes on Member of the Year - and yours truly was chosen from our club! There is a little recognition during the Friday night dinner, which is nice. :)

I will be all on my own for three days! Andy will be with the girls all weekend - they will have a blast. I'll fill you when I return. Until then ... here is the reason and origin of why I am going away in the first place ...

The Grand Poobah

Andy's parents gave the girls these adorable Elmo trick-or-treat baskets. Katie has turned hers into a hat - a la Howard Cunningham on "Happy Days" ...

... or like the guards outside Buckingham Palace ...

Katie walks around like this pretty much every night in the time between dinner ending and bedtime routine starting.


Maddie got in on the act, too. She only kept hers on a matter of minutes - "no things on my head!"

See you all at the next meeting.