Of Cats and Kids and Playing

We added our precious furry boys to our family a year ago in December.  They are such a treasure, but they’ve caused us to change our ways around the house in some respects, too.

The boys are a bit on the rambunctious side, AND they will run off with anything small.  (I’ve never seen a cat do that before!!!)  That prompts us to keep the kitties in the basement when we’re not home.  (That always sounds terrible to me, but it’s a fully finished space as big as our first house!)  When we are home, we close all the bedroom doors to limit the kitties’ roaming.  (They’re angels when they’re with us in the common areas.)

So…when the kitties are out and about, we’re generally hanging out in the kitchen, living room, or den.  And…this has very nicely coincided with the girls’ obsession with reading.  So…we spend a lot of time as a family reading or playing cards and hanging out with the kitties.

Sounds wonderful, right?  It is!

Except…

The girls don’t spend nearly as much time just playing as they used to.  The vast majority of their toys are upstairs in the playroom / bonus room, and those are rooms we close from the kitties.  The girls have their “quiet time” on Saturdays and Sundays, and they usually play then.  But – by design – that’s their time to themselves.

So…

It’s been such a beautiful treat to happen upon my girls playing so nicely a couple of times recently.  

One day, I came home from grocery shopping and Hubby was in the basement with the kitties.  I sneaked upstairs to the most wonderful sight.  I stood in the hallway and watched the girls, unbeknownst to them.  They were playing with their snap circuits, working together to figure something out.  

How I loved listening to their conversation.  “I’m trying to make the flying saucer, but I can just get the fan to work.”  “Here, let me show you what I think will get it.”  They communicated so nicely, helped each other respectfully, and delighted with each other when they got what they were looking for.

Even after I interrupted them, they continued to play so well.

And then earlier this week, I came home to Hubby cutting the grass, and the kitties were in the basement by themselves.  I could hear the girls in their playroom.  “Do you have any baby food?”  “No, we can just make our own.  Here, I’ll mush up some bananas.”

They had a very elaborate setup with their baby dolls and a full meal.  This time, they were waiting on me to join them.  “Mommy, will you play with us?!”  When I went into their playroom, there was a seat for me at their little table, and they had even saved the best piece of cake for me.

These exchanges used to be a daily thing…in our old house, where their toys were in the den…before kitties…before school and work.  I enjoyed them then…but I absolutely treasure these precious moments now.

A Birthday to Document

(This post may be late, but the girls' birthday celebration was not!)  :)  The girls' birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, so we celebrated as a family the Sunday prior.  Going back to their first birthday, I like to document the day play-by-play, and I can only capture so much when they're in school.

So...two days prior to turning the big SEVEN...here's how our babies spent the day!

The girls requested French toast with homemade syrup.  I made strawberry syrup, and it was delicious!

Four thumbs up!

After breakfast, the girls did a little reading with Daddy...

And then it was time to open gifts!

The kitties even helped.  :)

The girls got lots of new books!

And they had to dig in right away...

After the girls each consumed a book, they each started building a wooden model they got.

Can you see me now???

 Baby A was super proud of her helicopter!!!

And B loved her tyrannosaurus rex!

ROAR!!!

 After their models were complete, the girls got an envelope to open.  It was full of clues...

...which ultimately spelled, "GET DRESSED WARMLY AND GO LOOK OUTSIDE".

To the girls' delight, they found SCOOTERS!!!  And we were incredibly lucky we had not-too-freezing weather to enjoy them!!!

The girls worked SO hard learning to balance...

After lots of concentrated practice, we decided to break for lunch.

We planned to go to Yuki for our traditional birthday sushi...but we didn't realized they were closed for lunch on Sundays.  We went instead to the Bistro and had a wonderful lunch.  The girls even got to enjoy a very special dessert!

After some much-deserved "quiet time" that afternoon, we donned our coats (it somehow seemed colder!) and got in some more scooter practice.

It was incredible how, after that little break from the morning, the girls seemed to pick right up and be able to RIDE!!!

They posed like this themselves!

We all had a wonderful day, celebrating SEVEN.

Pure Joy and Exultation

A couple of weekends ago, I surprised the girls with a trip to the downtown fountains.  I try to do this about once a year.  It can be a little crowded, a bit of a free-for-all if you hit it at the wrong time, so I don't often like to chance it.

This year, we were in luck!  There were only a couple of other families frolicking that afternoon, so we had plenty of room to run and jump and play.

[We.  Yes.  I can't resist joining in!  I certainly don't parade around in my swimsuit, but I wear something that's OK to get a bit damp.  I try not to get drenched...but I am sometimes surprised by a wayward fountain and/or a mischievous kiddo.  I love it!!!]

I have such vivid memories from the first time we took the girls to the fountain, when they were 2 1/2.  Baby A wasn't very fond of all the wetness...

Getting outta there!

...but Baby B loved it.  She'd get a little shocked from time to time, but she kept going back for more.

BLISS!!!

On subsequent trips to the fountains, both my babies have enjoyed themselves.  And this year's picture yield showed just that.

Baby A...loving it!

Baby B...again...BLISS!!!

Splish-splash!!!

Sweet sisters, having FUN together!!!

I LOVE our annual tradition!  And all the awesome memories (and pictures!!!) that come with it!!!

Linking up with Cheryl at Twinfatuation for Way Back When-esday.  I can't resist a good trip down Memory Lane!!!

Super Stuff on a Saturday!

So thankful to have recorded some of the Super Stuff from around our house the past couple of weeks!

The girls aren’t always in lock-step with each other, but it’s so sweet when they are.  A few nights ago, after supper, Baby A planted a big, spontaneous hug on Baby B as we were heading into the den to play a game.  Made this mama’s heart smile!

On the way to school, Baby A was talking about how old she would be when she can drive.  “I’ll be able to drive when I’m in college…but you’ll still pick me up, right, Mommy?”  Absolutely.

Our kitty Miki is famous for wanting to sit in my lap, specifically during mealtimes.  (He’s really good and doesn’t reach for food…he just likes being there!)  He was all comfy after supper one night, and A asked if I would put him in her lap.  I did, and he sat there for the longest time.  She was in furry baby heaven!

I took the girls for ice cream cones at the Dairy Queen last weekend to celebrate A losing a tooth.  Once upon a time, this would have been major anxiety for me.  I realized most of the way through, though, that the girls were eating their cones WITHOUT MAKING ANY MESS.  Wowza.

On the way to school one morning:
B: "Mommy, what if the earth is just a tiny little spec, like in Horton Hears a Who?"
Me: "Well, it really kind of is, in the scheme of the universe."
A: "Yeah, and it would take a thousand years to reach another galaxy."
...Little minds. Big thoughts. 

Last Saturday the girls wanted to play outside for a few minutes after we got home from some errands.  We messed around with a few different toys, and then B got out a small football she got as a prize at school.  I did my best to show her how to throw it…and she did a really good job!!!  There were even a couple of nice, tight spirals!!!

Serious about football!

We watched a few minutes of the Kentucky Derby last Saturday.  Right before the race, I was caught really off guard that the girls were singing along, word for word, to "My Old Kentucky Home".  At least they can also sing Sweet Home Alabama!

Different-height Twin Problem #17. I laid out the girls' clothes for the day, which happened to include matching sweaters.  Although their jeans were different, the girls happened to put on the wrong pair.  We were running out the door when I noticed A's jeans were high waters, and B's were dragging the floor. Hee hee!  Thank goodness they were conciliatory and agreed to switch.

Outta the mouths of babes, at bedtime last Sunday night: "Mommy, why is the weekend so short? It seems like it just started! I wish it could be 10 days long."  Credit to Baby A for this unadulterated insight.

Playing on Saturday...JOY!!!

The girls were playing with magnets last weekend. They came barreling downstairs to breathlessly tell me what they'd just learned. Then, "C'mon, Sissy!  Let's go see what else we can discover!!!"

Football = Soccer ???

...well, not in this country…but I can see my sweet kiddos trying to figure it all out.

This mama is a huge football fan (of the American sort), Alabama Crimson Tide football, to be more exact.  While it was only over the last year that we actually let the girls watch any football (the TV is rarely on while the girls are awake), they’ve been decked in Crimson and White since they were tiny.

Soccer also runs deep at our house.  I didn’t grow up with the sport, buy my hubby lives and breathes it.  It’s his true passion.

The girls have logged much more English Premier League soccer time in front of the telly than they have football, for sure.  And we play a lot of it, too…in our basement, in the front yard, and every chance we get to go to the park.

I see the sports as being so completely different, but I recognize now they can cause a little confusion to the wee ones.

We were at the park a few weeks ago, kicking the soccer ball around.  Baby A did something really nice, and I congratulated her, “That was AWESOME!”  She threw her little hands in the air and yelled, “TOUCHDOWN!”

Daddy just shook his head.

I got my turn at head shaking during the Alabama game this past weekend.  During the first quarter, the opposing team scored first on a field goal.  After a few minutes (still during the first quarter), B said somberly, “Mommy, I don’t think Alabama is going to win.”  WHY would you say that, Sweetie???  “Well, they have three goals, and we don’t have any.”

I had to laugh (perhaps to keep from crying)!

...hmmm...maybe they can play soccer at The University of Alabama...yes, that's it!!!

What a Difference a Rug Makes!

In our old house, the girls spent more than 90% of their waking time in our den.  It was a baby-proof haven when they were younger, turned into the place where all their toys were organized as they got older.  They played…and read…and pretended, frolicked…and fought…and danced.

Long, long before the idea of kids came into the picture, we searched for a house with a kitchen that opened into the den area.  I had entertaining and cooking and TV-watching in mind, and little did I realize at the time, it was the absolute perfect set-up for kiddos, too.

The majority of the girls’ waking hours were spent in the den, and so were mine.  When I wasn’t playing with them, I was in the kitchen, making a meal or doing the dishes, or folding laundry on the kitchen table.  I could be [mostly] focused on something else, but still be within arm’s reach of the girls.

9 months!

When we built our new house, we wanted the same set-up between the kitchen and the den area.  We have a playroom upstairs for the girls, and a rec room in the basement, but we still wanted the intimacy in the heart of our house. 

We have a great new kitchen and a beautiful new den.  Missing, though, was a big part of the equation.  We have hardwood throughout the main floor.  We knew we would buy a rug for the den, but we didn’t realize until we moved in how critical that rug would be to our sense of family.

We were all, understandably, a bit out of sorts after our move.  Once we had everything unpacked and organized, though, it still felt as if our routine was awry.  The girls loved their new playroom, and we all enjoyed the run-around space in the basement…but something just wasn’t quite right.

As beautiful as our hardwood is, it’s just not very cozy.  We all spent very little time in the den.

When we finally got a big area rug, about 2 ½ months after we moved in (long story!), we breathed a collective sigh of relief.  Things were right again.

The girls still play in their playroom, and we still have some mean games of keep-away in the basement, but the first thing in the morning, we’re reading books or putting together a puzzle in the comfort of the den.  While I’m in the kitchen, the girls are oftentimes hanging out there, just a few steps away from me.  And I couldn’t have imagined Christmas morning had we been sitting up straight on couches the whole time.  Our family is definitely a spread-out-on-the-floor, cuddle-up-together-with-a-blanket, build-a-pillow-fort kind…and for that, a comfortable floor is a must.

Just turned 5!

What a difference a rug makes!

SUPER STUFF!!!

At LONG last, here is my SUPER STUFF {sorta-kinda} catch-up post.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the girls asked me if they could have a Daddy-Daughter day.  I told them to ask their daddy…and apparently he’d already told them to ask me.  The girls were THRILLED to see Mommy off to go grocery shopping in Daddy’s car, while they prepared to go out to lunch.  I’m told they had a great lunch AND made a stop by Walmart to pick up some cat food.  (My hat is off to the husband for braving Walmart with the girls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, too!!!)

We went on a great family walk the weekend after Thanksgiving, too.  The girls get SO excited when Daddy comes with us.  Without both my hands occupied, Mommy took along the camera and snapped a few (or a hundred) pictures.

We joked with A that she has a "nest" in that tree...she calls it 'her' tree now!

My reflection in B's glasses.  Love.

Showing off their mittens!

The girls crack me up with a handful of continued mispronunciations.  Baby A calls kiwi, ‘kew-ee’.  She can say it correctly, but seems to choose not to.  “But it’s kew-ee to me!” she insisted recently.

Baby B still says interesting as ‘inch-resting’.  She doesn’t seem to be able to say it correctly, despite her stellar pronunciation of virtually every other word in the dictionary.  That makes it so sweet to this mama’s ears…hearing her talking so seriously, so grown-up about something, and proclaiming how “inch-resting” it is to her.

B was talking to A about something Christmas-related.  “Sissy [A] Elf,” she called her in the sweetest voice.  Melt.

B cracked me up when she commented – of her own accord – on A’s choice of red-and-white striped reindeer socks with her pink tennis shoes.  “A’s shoes look good with those reindeer socks!” she declared.  Hahaha!

The girls were chatting in the back seat of the car one day on the way to school.  “When we grow up, there will be two mommies in the kitchen, not just one, like you.  That way we can cook faster, and Daddy will be happy, because he is always hungry.”

Another funny quote, from that same conversation…”Daddy goes to work so we have money on the days when he is off.”  I guess we don’t need money on the days he works???

The girls have been practicing dribbling a ball, off and on, for a year or so.  It finally clicked with Baby A last week.  She counted 35 times that she dribbled!  And I know she’s done even more at once…it’s pretty amazing!

Both girls love to come show me how sweaty they get, running around in the basement.  It’s such a badge of honor for them.  HA!

B was sitting by the fireplace a couple of days ago.  She called A over and said, “Kiss me, Sissy!”  I guess A came in close enough for B to plant a kiss, and then she said, “You have to kiss me back!!!”  HA!

We recently let the girls start using placemats, and they think they are SUCH big kids!!!  So far they’ve done a pretty good job at keeping them clean.  It’s one more step towards a normal table setting…hooray, and sniff-sniff.

I asked Baby A to go upstairs and get two ponytail holders from her bathroom (as they tend to migrate upstairs by the end of the week).  She brought down a handful to last us the week, without me asking her.  I just thought it was so neat to see her thought process.  The next day she picked up both sets of pajamas and put them in the laundry basket, without me asking her.  It doesn’t always happen, but she can be such a responsible baby girl.

On a whim a couple of weeks ago, I started teaching the girls some volleyball moves.  They LOVE it!!!  They will hit balls (or try to hit balls) back and forth for ages.  This mama loves it, too.  I can’t wait until we’re more reliably able to pass to each other…so fun!!!

Last Friday Daddy had an unexpected snow day from school.  Since the weather wasn’t supposed to come until later that day, we went out for a family breakfast.  We hadn’t been in quite a while, so it was a big treat.  The girls cleaned their plates…and then part of mine!

This dates back a few weeks, but I didn’t want to forget, as I laugh every time I think about it.  We had gone down to Nashville for a little shopping and then lunch.  The three of us were in the bathroom stall together (a big one, thank goodness), when “The Thrill is Gone” came over the sound system.  The girls have never heard that song, to my knowledge, but Baby B started strumming her imaginary air guitar and swaying slowly to the rhythm…all while Mommy was going potty.  I could have just fallen over, it struck me as so funny.

Also going back a few weeks, Baby A called me in the middle of the night.  I went up to her room and found her sitting in the middle of the floor, between the beds.  “Mommy!  I can’t find my blanket!” she cried.  I chuckled and told her her blanket was on her bed.  I tucked her back in, and she went to sleep.  It wasn’t until a week or so later that it dawned on me, I think she fell out of bed.  Poor kiddo!  She’s one tough cookie, though.

And from the second night (I think) we were in the house…the guy was here from the gas company, working on our fireplace.  Hubby went outside with him to look at the gas grill.  Baby A followed them on the inside of the house, looking through the windows.  “Mommy!!!  Why is Daddy going to the edge of darkness???”  She was so alarmed, and it cracked me up how she characterized it.  She’s been using “darkness” a lot recently, instead of “dark”.  That just seems so foreboding!  

Lots of SUPER I don't want to forget!!!

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

Sigh.

I miss it.

I really thought by now…a full four weeks after having moved into the new house…I’d be back on track.

But I’m not.

After the first week or so, we were fully functional here.  We have all the necessities unpacked, and all of the main living spaces are in order.  I still have the office to organize, I still have my china and crystal to unpack, and there are a few random boxes that I don’t even want to think about delving into, but all in all, we’re in decent shape.

I just don’t feel like we’ve found our groove yet, though.

A big part of it is that things are downright busy, apart from all the house stuff.  I stopped to recognize on Saturday that the previous four days, we’d had somewhere to be, bright and early.  Tuesday and Thursday were school days; Wednesday the girls had flu shots; and Friday the girls had their field trip to the orchard. 

On days where we have to be somewhere in the mornings, I usually make my coffee in a travel mug.  That indicates I don’t have that precious time of the morning I’ve enjoyed for the past couple of years…the time after breakfast when the girls play nicely and Mommy has her coffee / computer time.  It has typically been during this time that I’ve written my blog posts…organized my to-do lists…gotten myself together for the day.

Hmmm…maybe that explains the helter-skelter feeling I can’t shake.

The other big factor, I’ve finally decided, is the new dynamic of the girls’ play spaces.  In our old house, the girls spent 90% of their waking time in the den, which was open to the kitchen.  They played in the living room, too, but that was just off the den.  In any case, they were always within 30 feet of me, at most.  All their toys were there, too.

In the new house, we haven’t really defined a play space on the main level.  We’re lacking a rug in the den, so although we have a bookshelf with some of the girls’ books, it’s not very inviting to sit down and read and play.

The girls have a fantastic play space in the bonus room.  It’s nothing short of awesome to see their toys so nicely organized, complete with a dress-up area and room for their play tent.  Although they’re closing in on five, though, they don’t have much experience playing totally by themselves.  They’ll play for short periods of time, but they haven’t been engaged for more than 30 minutes or so without needing a dose of Mommy.

We are really blessed to have a big basement, perfect for the indoor soccer ball and Frisbee.  That’s garnered the majority of the girls’ attention, the opportunity to run at full speed, any time they like.  That seems to call the girls away from their play room, too.

I say all this to say that the girls’ playtime is not as focused these days as it always has been.  I typically spend quite a bit of time playing with them every day, but I have always been able to step away for a bit of “quiet time” – for me and for them – in the early afternoon.

We just had a conversation today about how important some downtime is for all of us each afternoon.  I’m hoping to get back on track with that…for everyone’s sanity.

It’s all a process, I know.  And these are first-world problems, for sure.  But I’m ready to find our new groove and get back to basics (and to blogging).