It Adds Up!

Over supper, Hubby pondered that one of his colleagues had never been to Home Café, one of our very favorite restaurants in town.  Baby A piped up, “I’ve been there a million times!”  “Maybe a million and a half,” Hubby told her, and then followed that he was teasing, as she hadn’t really been alive for a million days.

That immediately prompted the challenge from Hubby, asking the girls to calculate how many days old they are.  I was AMAZED that Baby A persevered until she figured it out!

Hubby gave her some prompts, each of which she answered herself.

There are 365 days in a year, but let’s work with a more round number, 350.  What’s 350 x 7?  My A broke it down into 300 x 7 = 2,100, and 50 x 7 = 350.  So 2,100 + 350 = 2,450.

Hubby then prompted her to add the missing 15 days per year.  What’s 15 x 7?  She almost immediately answered 105.

So 2,450 + 105?  She very quickly answered 2,555.

And your birthday was almost exactly two months ago.  How many days ago was that?  The girls both chimed in with 60 days.

So 2,555 + 60?  And my smart baby girl answered 2,615.

Wow.  Seriously, wow.

I was so amazed how she worked through the problem so methodically.  I told her in all sincerity that there are plenty of adults who wouldn’t have even tried to do that math.  They would have grabbed immediately for their calculators.

I love that we make numbers fun at our house.  And I am so grateful that our girls are {almost} always up for a lively challenge.

Bama's Best

So we made our quick down-and-back trip to Alabama this weekend.  It was short, but definitely sweet.

I have some great pictures, and I'm so thankful I took a few minutes to jot down some great quotes.  Being in the car for 10 hours over two days will do that for ya!

Some of the funnier moments came as the girls were reading signs.  I sometimes forget THEY CAN READ, and it strikes me as so funny, some of the things they come up with...

Baby A read, "Left shoulder closed."  "But Mommy, I need both my shoulders!"

And then, she read an advertisement, "Skydive Today!"  She immediately protested, "I don't want to skydive today!"  And then, "What's skydiving?"  Hahahaha!!!

We were getting a little antsy during the last few minutes of the drive on Saturday, so I started to quiz the girls on some math problems...

To B, "What's 25 x 3?"  "75!" she immediately answered.

And then, to A, "What's 6 x 5?"  She paused for just a second.  "Well, that's 12 x 2 + 6."  And then, "30!"  I really thought she'd memorized that multiplication fact...or at least that she'd count by 5's.  Her algebra amazed me!

When we got to Granddaddy's on Saturday afternoon, we decided to brave the heat and head to Noccalula Falls Park.

(Looking at the pictures, I realize now that Granddaddy and the girls had a tropical theme going on.  Hee hee!)

The beginning of our adventure...waiting on the train!

Our beloved train!

Petting a baby goat...sweet!!!

And we were so lucky to witness some of nature's magic.  When we first got to the petting zoo area, we saw a goat that was VERY pregnant.  We went inside to check out the bunnies and birds...and when we came out, there was a crowd gathered around to watch the baby being born!!!

We missed that particular action, but we did get to see the mommy goat cleaning up her baby...the baby's first steps...and the baby's first drink!  It was so sweet to see the girls cheering the baby goat on.

Late July in Alabama was probably not the most comfortable of days to be traipsing around the park, but we enjoyed it.  This crew was looking a little more exhausted by the end of the afternoon, though.  I love this picture of everyone, waiting on the train to come pick us up.

We came back to Granddaddy's and go cleaned up to go out to eat.  Unfortunately, though, I don't have any pictures from our gorgeous dinner.  We sat on the deck at the Fish Market and had a super-yummy supper.  I did capture a quote, though, as the server set down in front of A the crab cake dish I'd ordered for the girls to share.  B immediately reminded her sissy, "Half of that is mine!"  HA!!!

Sunday morning, we enjoyed breakfast out, and then some play time outside.  I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I did capture this beauty.  B was very serious about her technique (no doubt what she learned during basketball camp this summer).

Shooting some hoops!  (And enjoying time on the swing, of course.)

A short but fun trip...some great memories made!!!

SUPER Stuff on a Sunday!

So much silly, SUPER stuff at our house this week!

1)      Baby A came running up to me: “Mommy!  ‘Gulp’ has four letters!”  The girls are on the verge of sounding out words, and I thought that was pretty awesome!

2)      One sweet little memory I don’t want to forget is how excited the girls get to watch the chickens cooking on the rotisserie when we go to Sam’s.  They’ll stand there and wave, “Hey, chickens!”  Hahaha!

3)      At Sam’s, they have most of their prices displayed in really big signs (at least in comparison to regular grocery stores).  Baby A read almost every sign to me…correctly!  “Mommy, that costs fifteen dollars and eighty-seven cents!  Mommy, that costs five dollars and twenty-four cents!”  She solicited quite a few laughs from people shopping near us.

4)      On Wednesday, we’d planned to meet a friend at the park.  She had to reschedule, but the girls and I went ahead with a hike, a little bit of play time, and then a picnic lunch.  It was so incredibly pleasant, and it just made this mama’s heart smile!  The girls were full of pep on the 1.25-mile hike, even up the hills!  They played nicely for a few minutes on the playground, and didn’t protest or drag their feet when it was time to leave the playground.  We found a nice picnic table for our lunch.  I opened their containers, and they ate every morsel, with no spills and no requests for help.  WOW!

5)      On Friday morning the girls and I went to Panera for a mid-morning snack.  We’d been in the habit of doing that last school year, before doing our weekly grocery shopping, but we haven’t done it much over the last few months.  It was so nice to be back in familiar surroundings with my babies!

6)      We hadn’t been out for breakfast in a while, either, so we hit our favorite country-cooking restaurant on Saturday.  The girls ate French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon, and they didn’t leave a morsel on their plates!

7)      When we got home from breakfast, we decided on a family walk in the neighborhood.  The girls asked to go in their jogging stroller.  :)  Daddy and I took turns pushing them, and it was such a sweet throw-back to when they were smaller.  In fact, it was almost exactly four years ago we got that stroller…it’s served us well!

8)      On Saturday we needed to be at the new house to accept delivery on some appliances.  The house was cleaned a couple of days ago, so for the first time we got to relax a bit.  I took one of the girls’ storybooks, and we made official use of the reading room.  I loved seeing them lounging on the carpet, taking it all in!

My dream WINDOW SEAT is behind the girls!

9)      One morning I told B that she was a funny girl. "Yes," she said, "the funniest I've ever seen." She's humble, too.

10) And I overheard the girls playing…B said to A, "Sissy, do you want to go on a hunt for Christmas trees and dinosaur babies?" I love their imaginations (even if they do have their time periods a bit confused).

So thankful for this SUPER stuff!

Super Stuff on a Sunday!

It’s been another busy week of school and new house stuff, but thank goodness there’s been a lot of SUPER to see us through!

1)      One day after supper, A told me, “I have a homemade tooth.”  I didn’t understand, so I asked her what she meant.  “I like everything you make, Mommy.”  I finally put that together with my explanation of Daddy’s “sweet tooth” a few days prior.  Hahaha!

2)      The girls wanted to help me make supper last week.  I had plans to make fajitas, so I asked if they wanted to peel the onions.  They got all the skins off, and then after I cut the onion into slices, they separated all the slices into individual pieces.  They were so proud at what they’d done…although it made poor A cry and she didn’t understand why.  Bless her heart!

3)      I have a habit of calling the girls “tiny”…as in, “You’re my sweetest tiny,” or, “You’re my tiny baby girl.”  The girls know that, even after they’re grown, they’ll always be my tiny babies, and they like to reassure themselves (and me!) of that.  Often, in response to, “You’re my tiny baby,” my Baby A will say, “And you’re my tiny mommy,” in the sweetest little voice.  Melt.

4)      While we were visiting the new house, we decided to take our first walk in the new neighborhood.  I cannot wait to explore all the new spaces...together with the girls!

5)      Last weekend we went out for breakfast, and we decided to try Panera.  Panera is our go-to for coffee and a mid-morning snack, and occasionally for lunch, but we’d never taken the girls there for a full breakfast meal.  It was such a nice, peaceful time, and it was pretty sweet to remember that Hubby and I used to enjoy breakfast there from time to time…long before the girls were born.

6)      Daddy loves to practice numbers with the girls…these days, that’s usually writing a big number and having them say it correctly.  It was so cool to hear the girls practicing themselves one evening after supper.  They were bent over a 300+ page story book, calling out the page numbers for the various stories.

7)      The girls were really focused on maps for a couple of days this week.  I heard them looking at one of the world maps we have, pointing things out to each other.  “That’s an island,” and, “Those are in different time zones.”  Hee hee!

8)      One morning before breakfast, I complimented the girls on how incredibly nicely they were playing together.  I reminded the girls how blessed they are to have each other.  “You know Mommy didn’t have a sissy to play with when she was a little girl.”  My A piped in immediately, “But you do now!”  Yes, I do...two, in fact.  And I'm so thankful they share each other with their mommy!

9)      The girls were in a disagreement over something play-related, and I heard B tell A in a very calm, yet firm, voice, "Sissy, this is my decision." Hee hee!

10)   The girls were talking about how thing will be when they grow up. My A said she would have twins "...but I'll just keep one and give the other one to Sissy." Bwahahaha!

11)   The girls were working on some sort of mystery "collages" at the table. I heard B say to A, "I'm going to line these pieces up with the cardinal directions." Hee hee! Apparently even an artist should be organized. (And she might just get that from her mama!)

12)   I love four-year old mispronunciations...B accidentally said "puffet" for "puppet", to a chorus of giggles. And A apparently combined "colander" and "pollen" to get "pollander".

13)   "Mommy! That man on the motorcycle is almost naked!" "And that's not safe!" It was just a guy with no helmet and a very sparse tank top, but you'd better believe it made me pause, though!

14)   My A wanted to play with a particular toy by herself, so she declared she was going into the living room. Not 10 seconds later, B whined, "Mommy! I'm lonely by myself in the den!" Twin sisters...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

15)   On Friday we met our friends A&E at Jackson’s Orchard.  It was a HOT day, but it was so sweet to see our little ladies playing together.  For some reason, my A&B were feeling a little shy, but A&E invited them to play right away, and by the end of the morning, they were all holding hands.  So sweet!  And to top it off, we all went to lunch together…all four girls did a great job, and the parents actually logged some semi-coherent conversation!

All four kiddos, going down the big slide, almost at the same time!

So thankful for lots of SUPER!

Super Stuff!

This was the girls’ first week of four-year old preschool.  Between that and lots of house stuff going on, it’s been a busy one!  Still, I’m so thankful for lots of SUPER stuff to cite!

1)      I loved seeing how giddy the girls were to get their backpacks and lunch boxes ready for school on Monday.  They had to practice opening and closing every little pocket and zipper, and then they had to parade around the house in full gear.  I remember being so proud of getting a new lunch box when I was a little girl…it’s just crazy that I now have my own excitable pair!

2)      As the girls were getting dressed for their first day of preschool on Tuesday, my sweet B said, "Mommy, can we wear the same thing today so people will know we go together?"

3)      I think it was Baby A who started this a few weeks ago, and it’s now become part of our nighttime routine.  The girls take turns choosing a bedtime story each night.  These days, the trick is to hide the book before Mommy and Sissy get back to the bedroom.  Daddy is usually the accomplice, although so far, the book has been hidden in only a couple of places.  It’s so much fun to watch the girls try to “trick” Mommy.

4)      Daddy has been trying to teach the girls the “slap hands” game (I don’t know the name of it…where you try to trick your opponent into pulling her hands back before they get slapped).  The girls are heee-larious!!!  They get the concept of the game, but their reflexes are pretty slow.  Baby A will say, “Mommy, I want you to pull your hands back verrrrry sloooooowly towards your body.”  HA! 

5)      Baby B’s pronunciation is typically very good, and I think she used to say the word “normally” correctly.  She’s turned it into an exaggerated “NERmally”, though, and it never fails to crack me up.

6)      Baby A was looking at a picture from her first birthday party, the girls with their smash cakes. "Mommy, I'd like a whole cake again sometime, OK?"  She is her father’s daughter!

7)      I haven’t written much about it…because I still don’t quite want to believe it’s true…but the girls haven’t been napping over the past month.  But this week – once for Baby B and twice for Baby A – the girls ASKED to nap!  Bliss!  And of course we had to celebrate the double nap with ICE CREAM!

8)      I feel kinda silly admitting I’ve never made a smoothie.  I almost think I’ve never had a smoothie, come to think of it.  The girls got cookbooks for Christmas, and they oogle them from time to time.  As a special treat on the first day of school, I had them pull out their book and find the smoothie recipe.  They helped me make a strawberry-banana smoothie (mixed with vanilla yogurt).  They thought it was the best treat ever!

9)      I took the girls to the yogurt shop one afternoon, and I couldn’t help but sing along to some of the songs they were playing.  A John Mayer tune came on, and I told the girls he is one of the best guitar players in the world.  My A contributed to the conversation, very nonchalantly, "Elton John is one of the best singers."  And then B piped in, "Sissy, it's SIR Elton John."

10)   Few things make me happier than seeing one of my girls walk by the other and plant a sweet kiss on the top of her head or her cheek. (Of course those kisses occasionally evolve into hugs...then tumbles...then brawls...but the initial contact is so very precious.)

11)   The girls were playing one morning with a set of color-coded stacking miniature chairs. Baby A came barreling into the kitchen with a wild look in her eyes, "Mommy! Three six's is 18!" I love seeing the wheels turning in their little minds!

12)   When I walked in their room one morning, B greeted me with the Beatles' "Yesterday." Together, we segued into "Here Comes the Sun"...until Baby A rolled over and growled, "STOP THE SONGS!!!" They're a bit different in the mornings.

So thankful for the SUPER in our week!