Capturing Memories: Alabama and GG

(This post is a bit belated, but I didn’t want to forget some of the sweet things from a couple of weeks ago.)

GG came to visit in late June.  It was a visit much anticipated by all of us.  We were so glad to have her here!

The girls and I went down to Alabama, our second trip just the three of us.  Our first stop was Aunt Alison’s house.  It’s always such a treat to sit back, relax, and catch up.  (Well, that’s what Alison and I did while the girlies played!)

That afternoon, we headed to Granddaddy’s house.  We had the most awesome dinner at The Fish Market.  I didn’t realize the scenery was going to be so picturesque, or I would have taken my camera.  We sat right on the river.  We enjoyed some fun live music, and the girls enjoyed watching the boats come in for supper.  Oh, and the food was delicious!

The next day, the girls and I went to visit our newest baby cousin, Z.  She is precious!!!  The girls were enamored with her…once they got a taste of holding her, they didn’t want to stop!

We had another fun afternoon at Granddaddy’s house.  Although it was HOT, we got in a lot of outside play time.  Granddaddy surprised the girls with these planes…

…and we all got to admire Granddaddy’s new car.  WOW!!!  He took us for a very short ride around the block.  (I was incredibly nervous, since the girls didn’t have car seats, but we literally didn’t see another car at 6pm on Sunday evening.)  The girls thought it was AWESOME to ride with the top down!!!

The next day, GG, Uncle Tommy, and Aunt Janet came to Granddaddy’s for an early lunch.  We enjoyed a short visit, and then we loaded up and brought GG back home with us.  I didn’t get to enjoy as much time with GG as I would have liked…I was at work my usual schedule…but the girls and GG (and Daddy) had a great time together.  Here are a few of the highlights…

·         GG and the cats.  GG met Miki and Alex for the first time.  She loved them!  And Miki, in particular, liked her.  He was quite taken with her hair, combing his little paw through it every chance he got.  He obviously got some kind of kick from this, and GG definitely did!

·         “Helping” GG.  GG took it upon herself to make sure the girls’ beds were made every day.  B was glad to supervise.  (Sigh.)  GG told me that B was directing her how to put the blanket.  GG cracked me up when she recounted it.  “I’ve got it, B,” GG told her.  HA!  And how cute it was to hear A caution GG, “Careful!” as she went up the stairs.

·         Giggles.  I called home on Monday to check on everyone.  Hubby answered the phone, to an ongoing chorus of giggles in the background.

·         Mastery.  While GG was here, B mastered the hula hoop!  She’s been able to do it for a year or so, but something clicked, and she’s got it now without a doubt.

·         Kudos.  On Thursday, the ‘fam picked me up from work and we all went to lunch.  I asked around the table how everyone liked their food.  “This is good, Mommy.  Amazing, actually.  Fantastic,” A said.

·         Fun.  On Friday night, Hubby needed to cut the grass, and I didn’t have much planned in the way of supper.  Since it was just us girls, I decided to spring something different on everyone.  We had a “picnic” in the den…PB&J sandwiches on towels while we listened to GG’s favorite singer, Willie Nelson, on CD.  It’s obvious that it doesn’t take much to impress the girlies.  “This is the best night ever,” A told me.

What a GREAT week!  One I don't want to forget, for sure!!!

A Singular Party Invitation and a Case of Mistaken Identity

Wow…that’s a title straight out of a mystery book, huh?  The story I’m about to recount wasn’t a mystery, exactly, but it’s a milestone of sorts that I don’t want to forget.

This spring, Baby A got an invitation to her friend R’s party.  R and A were in the same class.  While Baby B knew R, they didn’t share classes together.  B was not invited.  Baby A wanted to go, and B was tearful.  “That’s not fair, Mommy!  I want to go!”  Hubby weighed in on the situation, saying I should call R’s mom and ask if B could come.

Having read about this conundrum from other twin mamas, I had decided I wouldn’t take that approach.  I’m certain R’s mom would have been fine to add B to the invite list, but I wanted A to have her special time with her friend.  B quickly conceded when I told her she could do something super-special with Daddy while A and I went to the party.

A week or so ago, an invitation came in the mail for B.  Baby A had a moment of sadness when she realized she wasn’t invited, but I reminded her of R’s party…and the super-special time she’d have with Daddy.

The girls have gotten a little wistful when one got to pick out a gift and the other didn’t get to weigh in.  And the goody bag given at both parties caused the non-party-goer to be maybe a tiny bit jealous.  But two parties down (one for each kiddo, THANK GOODNESS!!!), and I feel like this is the right approach for us.

At the party I attended with B, there was another funny twist.  The kindergarten classes weren’t aligned in a straightforward fashion.  There were homerooms, and then kids could have different teachers for reading and/or math.  Baby A is friends with K, from her homeroom class.  Baby B didn’t have classes with K.  But when we got to the party, we saw K (who I’m guessing had reading or math with the birthday girl).  [Clear as mud, right???]

I know K’s dad from seeing him at other events, so I started chatting with him.  We were probably 45 minutes into the party when he said, “Wait……..do you have twins???”  Yes, I told him.  That’s B, and A is at home.

“And A was in K’s class, right???”  Yes.  I pulled out a picture to show him the girls together.

“OHHHH!!!” he exclaimed.  “I wondered why B wasn’t talking more with K!  K and A are usually so chatty!”

Hahahaha!!!  It hadn’t even occurred to me to mention the difference to him.  Our first case of “mistaken identity” (which I didn’t know to expect with my fraternal girlies), in the books!

(And if I thought Baby A was wistful at not going to the party, hearing her friend K was there was really tough for A to swallow.  I’ve gotta plan a playdate to catch up with K.  The girls will both enjoy it…and maybe K’s parents will recognize firsthand we have two kiddos.  HA!)

My (Dusty) Camera

Since the girls started school and I started back to work, I realized I haven't had my camera out nearly as often as I always have.  It isn't literally dusty (the horror!!!), but my September14 picture file was sadly thin.

I packed my camera this past Saturday morning, as the girls and I went to our beloved Jackson's Orchard for their annual Orchestra in the Orchard event.  [I have pictures from our visit each year that I could pull out...but I'm not quite that organized these days.]

Here are a few of my faves...

We started out, listening to the orchestra, under the shade of an apple tree.

Since we didn't get there as early as we'd planned, our spot wasn't very good, and we decided to find a snack.  In line, we ran into none other than "Grandma" June!!!  It had been waaaay too long since we saw her...what a fantastic treat!!!

The girls enjoyed playing...

...and Grandma June insisted she take a picture of the three of us.  What a rare treat!

And last, but certainly not least, we scoped out the pumpkins.

After a super-fun morning, the girls and I headed downtown for lunch.  We opted for Tea Bayou, one of my frequent haunts from the girls' preschool days.  How I'd missed that little place, too!

Here are the girlies, waiting on our food, near-tuckered out from a full morning of sun and fun...

And I had to snap a picture of A, trying to eat a big muffaletta.  It's hard to eat when you're short on teeth!!!

Before we wrapped up our sweet time together, we made a pit stop by the downtown fountain.  This picture opp never gets old.

I've been missing time with my precious babies...and with my camera!  So glad I got a good dose of both this Saturday.

{heart}

I'm Going to Miss This

I had a really hard time, the last few days before the girls started kindergarten.  It wasn't so much that I couldn't come to grips with my babies growing up...but it was all about how much I would miss the amazing 5 1/2 years we shared so intimately.

Sure, we'll have our mornings and our nights together, and we'll make the most of every weekend...but it's the random, middle-of-the-afternoon, impromptu trips to the orchard that I will miss so very much...

...it's being there for the most average of days, and enjoying the most incredible snuggles, any time I pleased.

...it's sharing the ups and downs and restlessness...turned to incredible displays of imagination.

Here's just a snippet of some of the carefree fun we had this summer.

Swim lessons!

Picking tomatoes from the garden!

Picking strawberries from the berry patch!

Getting lost in a craft!

Having fun at birthday parties!

Playing at the park!

Hanging out at the orchard with friends!

Learning new skills!

Ceramics!

Ice cream with Mommy!

 ...and one of my favorite pictures of the summer...

The dancing fountains!

And, of course, we enjoyed two amazing trips (no vacation time required).

Chicago!!!

New York City...with friends!!!

I am beyond grateful for these baby girls, and for the 5 1/2 years we've ENJOYED, together.  New adventures await, for sure...but these days will forever have such a special place in our hearts.

Summer Travels to Chicago: Family and Friends

We've been trying to pack a lot of adventure into this summer...so much so (in addition to work and home, of course) that sadly I have found little time to write about said adventures.

Before I can legally post pictures from our fabulous trip to New York last week, I want to post pictures from our fabulous trip to Chicago a couple of weeks ago.  It was a wonderful mix of family and friends, along with sights, sounds, and tastes of the Windy City.

First, pictures from the Family and Friends network of the greater Chicago area.

We visited the girls' uncle's farm, just outside of Chicago.  The girls got to help with a few of the more fun (for them) chores...bottle feeding a baby calf...

...feeding the goats, sheep, and alpacas...

...and amid the turkeys, hens, and roosters, they hunted for eggs.

Their absolute favorite "chore", though, was snuggling the baby kittens.  They **really** wanted to take them home to live with us!

After a great meal and too many desserts, we gathered the E family for pictures.

Uncle V, Daddy, Cousin M, along with B and A

We also spent time with Hubby's best friends, the girls' "Uncle" Steve and "Aunt" Svetlana.

The girls hadn't seen Steve since they were 2 1/2, but they remember him from the visit he made to our house.  They don't remember meeting Svetlana when they were infants, but they couldn't get enough of either of them.

I love this picture so, so much!!!

And the girls were tickled to get to play a little soccer with Daddy and Uncle Steve.

Regretful goodbyes to the greatest honorary uncle.

After a couple of days exploring the city, we left via Steve and Svetlana's daughter's house...who just happens to have a little girl 15 months younger than A&B, and two-year old twin boys!  (Their names are A&B, too!)

Silly girls at lunch!

...with ice cream for all for dessert!

We are so thankful to have spent such wonderful time with our family and friends!

They Grow with a Little Help from my Friends and Family

I realized it early on, the tendency I have to look at my children as BABIES, more fragile, more vulnerable, and less capable than they really are.  It’s sometimes a wakeup call when I see my friends’ children of the same age.  Hey, they are BIG KIDS!  Hmmm…my girls are the same age…so wait a minute!  Are my BABIES that big, TOO???

And along those same lines, it’s happened a time or two, at least, when my friends and family members have gently prompted me to allow the girls a new privilege, to challenge them in some new way.  Most of the time, I just didn’t realize my BABIES could / should be doing something more.

I remember the holiday, just before my sweet cherubs turned two.  We went to Grandma Linda’s house for lunch, and I cut the girls’ food into small pieces and put it on the trays of their highchairs for them to feed themselves.  I was proud that they were eating the same “big people food” we were.  Grandma Linda was proud, too, I’m sure…”but do they need spoons?” she asked.  In honesty, I’d given the girls spoons a month or so prior to that, but they made a HUGE mess.  I tabled that endeavor, vowing to revisit cutlery “when they were older”.

A week or so later, a lovely package arrived at our door, containing the cutest plates and matching plastic forks and spoons.

It was the subtle prompt I needed to turn them loose with utensils…and low and behold, they mastered it really quickly!

Grandma Linda prompted me again recently, when she gave the girls weaving looms for Christmas.  I have very fond memories of making potholders when I was a kid…but I remember being much older than five.  I was so appreciative of the thought, of course, but I worried it would be one of those “for when you’re older” gifts we put back for a while.

The girls couldn’t wait to dig into their new goodies, though, so I acquiesced.  And you know what?  THEY DID IT!!!  I am still doing the edges for them, but they’ve got the weaving down pat.  Think again, Mommy!

For their birthday, Aunt Alison sent the girls two new games, one being “Trouble”.  The girls wanted to play right away…but I feared it would be far over their heads.

They proved me wrong…again…as we’ve played countless games over the past two weeks.  There’s counting, of course, but there’s also considerable strategy, and the girls have picked that up really quickly.  While the game moves really fast, there’s the potential for lots of disappointment.  The girls have learned to take it in stride…and that, my friends, is HUGE!  (Daddy had this game when he was growing up, called – in Serbian – “Don’t Get Mad, Man!”  That’s a fitting title, and one we say often, as we vie to send each others' pieces back behind the starting line.)

Yet again, I’ve been shown that my BABIES are much more capable, much more mature, than what I sometimes give them credit for.  Thanks, Friends and Family, for that extra little push I need now and again to take off the baby pink-colored glasses.

Thanksgiving Past and Present

It’s hard to believe this year was the girls’ FIFTH Thanksgiving.  Wow.

At this point, I can still remember each holiday celebration, and the girls loved the little tidbits I shared with them…

We’d planned to spend their first Thanksgiving – when they were almost 11 months old – in Alabama, but the girls came down with their first colds.  We called off our three-day plans, but we still braved the trip to have lunch with Aunt GG…down and back, 500 miles round-trip in one day.  We just caught Starbucks still open when we were about 2/3 of the way home.  We fed them bottles, and Mommy and Daddy got a little caffeinated boost.

Their second Thanksgiving we made it to Granddaddy and Emme’s house, high chairs and all.

By their third Thanksgiving we’d decided that we’d only make one holiday trip to Alabama, shortly before Christmas.  We spent our first Thanksgiving at home, just the four of us.  The girls were tickled to eat in the dining room, not sitting in high chairs…a very rare treat!

Last year, we spent the girls’ fourth Thanksgiving with our bestest twin friends.  We made crafts and played…how sweet it was to see our little Pilgrims hamming it up together.

This year, our twin friends were out of town, so it was just us four again.  The girls were so excited to eat in the dining room…our first time to do so in the new house!

The girls were excited to get up on Thanksgiving morning.  They milled around and we had a nice family breakfast…and then B finally asked, “Mommy, last year I think you gave us gifts on Thanksgiving, didn’t you?”  “Remember, we got new panties and a book.”  It took me a few seconds to place that they were thinking about Valentine’s Day.  I reminded them that Thanksgiving is a time for family.  The rest of the day, they kept repeating, “Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts; it’s about family,” over and over.  HA!

The girls were also so excited for me to cook a turkey (breast).  I guess they were fueled by a couple of Thanksgiving-themed books we read, but they just thought it was grand.  They watched the entire operation from their “cooking show” stance across the kitchen island.

The girls helped me make the cranberry sauce.  They loved watching the berries POP, and they were pretty proud of their effort.

They had turkey races in the basement…where they flapped their “wings” and made “gobble-gobble” sounds as they ran around.

We made our traditional batch of Chex mix, and they watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade for the first time ever while they munched away.  They liked the Rockettes (“the people that all do the same thing when they dance”); they both asked for tap shoes; and Baby A now wants to play the drums.

When it was time for lunch, the girls were giddy to help me carry things to the table.  (I flashed to the scene in our Curious George book, when he tries to carry too many of the Thanksgiving trimmings at once.  I begged them to carry only one thing at a time!)

My A spread “her” cranberry sauce on everything, including the sweet potatoes and the creamed spinach.  I was not really a fan of that idea, but I let her have her fun.

After we enjoyed a big meal, it was time for dessert…and TWO desserts, at that.  The girls each had a half a slice of pumpkin cheesecake, and half a piece of our pecan pie bars.

And I keep laughing at Baby A’s sly plea.  After her meal AND dessert, she told me she was still hungry.  HOW can that be, A???  “My tummy digested it really quickly. It’s already in my intestines, Mommy! I need more pecan pie!”

Nice try, Kiddo.

Along those lines, here's my favorite picture from the day...A checking to see if B left her anything to eat!

"I can't believe she ate the whole thing!"

 

All in all, we are very thankful for another memorable year!

Frigid Field Trip Fun!

The girls went on their first real field trip last week...it was so much fun! 

The trip was to the orchard, where we go every few weeks, but it was still a new adventure to experience everything with their classmates.  And there were a few things we'd never done, or hadn't done in a long time, like the hay ride, corn maze, pumpkin patch, and apple cider demonstration.

We've had a pretty warm fall so far, but last Friday was FRIGID!  Lows that morning were in the 20's...and the orchard is located at the highest point in the county.  I think the car registered 35 degrees as we were driving there about 9:00 that morning.  Yikes!

I broke out the girls' warm coats for the first time, and I have to say I loved seeing my little snow bunnies all bundled up.

At least we had warm sunshine...and by the end of the morning, we were able to shed our hood and our top layer.

Of course I snapped a few (or a hundred) pictures...

Trying for our traditional pumpkin shot...but it was pretty cold for big smiles, apparently.

Classmates A&B with K&K.

Love these fluffy snuggles!

Climbing hay bales while we waited for our hay ride.

Group shot of both preschool classes.  You can tell it was bright!!!

My precious babes on the hay ride.

Love the morning sun and the pigtails!!!

The girls were initially excited about the corn maze, but the tour leader warned all the kiddos to stay with their mommies.  "If you get lost, we'll pick you up tomorrow," he joked.  Apparently the joke was lost [no pun intended!] on most of the kids, though.

The girls were pretty tentative as we went through.  They did not want to let go my hands, even for me to snap a picture.  This was one of only a couple of shots I got.  Poor babes!

Sticking together!

After the corn maze, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  The girls must have picked up 20 pumpkins each before making their selections.

B, holding up one for consideration...

A, testing out the feel of this one...

Heading back to the hay ride.

At last it was time for a snack...apple cider and a sugar cookie.  Here are a few of the kiddos, posing with Mrs. D.

We played a bit on the playground before it was time to pack up.  I got one last picture of my by-then tired babies.  

A, trying to get B to stand up straight...HA!

We rounded out the morning by going to lunch with one of their classmates, and we came home and took a bubble bath in Mommy's giant tub.

Fun, fun, fun!!!