Best. Week. Ever.

I'm being slightly generous with defining the past week...it's actually closing in on about 10 days now...but I'm going to give myself a pass on that little transgression.

What a glorious last few days!!!

It started with the girls' 9th BIRTHDAY last Friday.  WOW!!!  We had all our traditional birthday fun...

...French toast with homemade strawberry syrup.
...lunch with the girls at school.
...goodies (ice cream cups this year) with their classmates.
...Mommy picking them up after school.
...shrimp scampi and MOLTEN LAVA PUDDING CAKE.
...and fun presents, oh, my!

Traditional first-thing-in-the-morning birthday picture!

Saturday, I surprised the girls with "tickets" I mocked up to the indoor climbing gym.  We had an absolute blast!!!

Even Mommy got in on the climbing action!

Sunday, we had a productive day at home, and then a productive few days at school/work.  Of particular note, the girls both made 100% on their timed math tests, even after the holiday break.  Baby A is only one test away from earning the title of MULTIPLICATION GRAND MASTER.  She is excited!!!  B is doing great, too, tracking a couple of weeks behind her.  Those titles will be cause for major celebration!

On Friday, we all got a huge surprise.  School was preemptively cancelled late Thursday due to impending snow.  The shock was that Mommy's work closed early Friday morning, too!  What a glorious family day we had together.  We mostly snuggled by the fireplace, and the girls built an obligatory snow-day blanket fort.  AND Mommy and Daddy got most of the holiday stuff packed away (FINALLY).

Saturday morning, the girls were up EARLY in anticipation of snow play.  And PLAY in the SNOW we did!!!  We had great snow for sledding, and it's wasn't unbearably cold, either.

Snow Bunny B!

Snow Bunny A!

Wipe out hugs!

Getting ready!

Winter perfection!!!

Yep.  Best week ever.  We're loving it!!!

EIGHTH Birthday Play-by-Play!

Since the girls' first birthday, I've done a play-by-play of their birthday happenings.  My pictures are a little more sparse these days, since I have to share my birthday girls with the public school system...but I still manage to document my darlings.  My newly-minted EIGHT YEAR-OLDS had a great day!

Our annual first-thing-in-the-morning pics!

Baby A!

Baby B!

And the girls soon piled up together...they said they were posing like they were in Mommy's tummy.  HA!  I think they should swap places for that to be more accurate, though.

Sillies!!!

Since the girls' birthday fell on a Thursday, we decided we would have our family celebration the following Saturday.  I still surprised the girls with a few little treats.  Waiting on them at the breakfast table were these little guys...a nod to their Serbian nicknames, which mean "little duck" and "little bird".

After breakfast, we had some play time with the fur babies.

Baby A with Miki

Baby B with Alex

And then I attempted our annual birthday picture.  The girls weren't super excited for that activity, but I did get this one in their new kitty shirts.

I took the girls to school (and then began my whirlwind of a day, buzzing around doing birthday stuff!).

I took the girls lunch from one of our favorite bakeries...chicken salad sandwiches and white bean chowder.  YUM!!!

Mommy with her birthday girls!

And after a short visit home for me, I was back with donuts and lemonade for their classmates.

I picked the girls up from school and headed to the library.  We were long overdue to get new books.  That's usually a weekend activity, so it was a treat to be there in the middle of the week!

In the hot air balloon basket at the library!

I made the girls' traditional birthday meal, baked shrimp scampi over mashed potatoes, and then we enjoyed their traditional birthday dessert, chocolate molten lava pudding cake.  YUM!  We sang "Happy Birthday" -- twice, of course -- and dug into the sweet goodness.

After supper, I had another surprise for the girls...the Game of Life board game, and some new astronaut pajamas.

These precious baby girls had a great day, for sure!

My sleepy 8 year-olds after a full day of celebration!

The Countdown Begins!

Today starts our countdown to Valentine's Day.  It's not much...a little treat for each of seven days, including V-Day.  Today's confection is two dark chocolate-covered almonds, something small that will fit in the countdown pill box.

The girls haven't said anything about it this year, so I imagine they'll be super surprised to see what's waiting on them at the breakfast table.  And of course I can't wait to see their faces and hear their glee!

And of course the anticipation of the holiday makes me think back to some of our fun holidays past.  The girls were two in this first real Valentine's Day celebration.  Look at those adorable faces and their "Peace & Love" onesies!!!

Baby B

Baby A

And beyond the special Valentine's Day breakfast, we celebrated further with dinner downtown, the girls decked out in some of my favorite dresses ever.

Nose kiss for Sissy!

Three ladies on a mission!

I love any opportunity to celebrate with my loves...and any opportunity to take a trip down Memory Lane!

Thank you, as always, to the marvelous Cheryl at Twinfatuation for the Way-Back-Whenesday inspiration!!!

December to Remember

Wow...I knew it had been a long time since I blogged.  I winced to see it's been THREE MONTHS.  Wowza.  I missed it, for sure...and I know I'm going to kick myself one day, too.

I guess there's no time like the present to try to catch up a bit...so I'm going with a few snapshots to try to recapture some of what I missed.

December was, of course, full of holiday cheer.  And woven in and around the festivities, we had our usual fun, too...

Easy Bake Oven fun!  Watching anxiously!

Baby B...give her a book and a warm fire...she's set!

Baby A made herself at home on a blanket...and Miki was quick to join her!

Black cats are hard to photograph, I'm often reminded...but I got a good one of Miki in the sunlight.  Meow!

We had some fun school adventures, too...

The girls did "money posters" for their math class...Susan B. Anthony and the two-dollar bill.  They did a great job!

Roller skating field trip!  Thankfully, no casualties this time!

And then there's our countdown calendar, which held many fun activities...

Decorating the tree!

Making gingerbread houses (thanks to my most amazing friend for hosting!!!)!

New fuzzy Christmas pajamas!

Painting a canvas...Baby A chose a reindeer!

Baby B painted a snowman!

This holiday will stand out for me in a few sweet ways...ones that I hope I always remember...

The girls were so helpful in the kitchen this year!  In particular, they did a great job of making sand tarts and sugar cookies...rolling the dough into little balls.  Be still my heart...it was so much fun for all of us.

The girls surprised me with a countdown calendar of my own!  Each day had a treat of some sort, usually a chocolate they'd pack in my lunch bag.  What precious little hearts these girls have!

And the girls' countdown calendar ended with their very favorite activity, one they look forward to all year, it seems!  The now-famous candy cane hunt!

They did a great job taking turns with the clues, too!

It was a whirlwind month, packed full of fun!

The Perfect Vacation Day

I took the day off on Tuesday to spend the day with the girls…the day before school starts…which is now our cool little tradition.  We’d all been looking forward to it for weeks.  And the day didn’t disappoint.

The girls had breakfast in traditional day-before-school fashion, with a candle in their cinnamon roll to make a wish for a great school year.

Make a wish!

We spent the morning playing at home.  We read together, we worked on a canvas, and we had plenty of pretend time.  

Here, the girls made a “beach”.  All was well until Mommy pretended to be a shark!

We headed downtown for lunch, to a new seafood restaurant none of us had tried.  It was so cool to enjoy something new, together, for the first time!

After lunch the girls slipped into their swimsuits (and Mommy, into shorts and a top) and we headed to the dancing fountains.  What fun we all had, running around and squealing!

Here, pretending to be flamingos!

After we had our fill of the hot sun, we dried off as best we could and headed for ice cream.

Sharing a bite!

What a wonderful afternoon it was!!!

We came home and scrubbed up and down in preparation for the start of school.

The rest of the day somehow disappeared into reading and snuggles, with a little needlepoint slipped in before supper.

We didn’t take a trip…we didn’t live it up at the spa…but it was the most perfect vacation day I could imagine…logging some wonderful one-on-one time with my baby girls and celebrating the eve of yet another milestone.

Reality Strikes This Holiday Season

(This post is not nearly as ominous as the title might lead one to believe...but I'm still chuckling over this "stark" exchange!)

Since the girls were small, they’ve desperately wanted to help decorate the Christmas tree.  Each year, I’ve devised some age-appropriate (and finite) task for them to do.  Certainly their involvement has progressed over time, but it’s always been very orchestrated.

This year, the girls just shy of seven, I was ready to turn over more reigns to them.  Hubby pulled the high boxes out of the storage closet in the basement.  I pulled out the lower boxes and began to unpack specific things from them.  I told the girls they could make trips upstairs, carrying small loads.  Baby B helped kick things off, and Baby A was in for the long haul.

Once everything was upstairs, Hubby and I assembled the tree and put the lights on.  The girls watched with rapt enthusiasm…although B was not sold that the lights would be “pretty” until we finally plugged them in.

After a quick vacuuming session, it was time for the girls to start the real fun!

While I unwrapped one box of ornaments, I told them they could take others from their boxes.  I directed them to make a pile of empty boxes and a pile of ornaments.  They were so cute, looking at each one…talking about which ornament belonged to whom, and when they’d made some of their crafty ones.

When everything was out, it was time to decorate the tree.  “Have at it!” I told the girls.  I encouraged them to hang a variety of types…our collectible silver bells interspersed with our handmade creations.  We had a small stepstool to help us reach heights, and Baby A, in particular, was great about asking for help here and there to reach just the right branch.

(B is on the stepstool here, and A is doing her best to reach just the right branch.)

It didn’t take long for the girls’ enthusiasm to wane, though. 

“I’m tired!”  “This is hard work!”  “Can I go do something else?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.  It IS hard work! 

My precious little ones…this is an early glimpse for you that grown-up things are not always full of “fun”.  Enjoy being a kiddo while it lasts!!!  Hee hee! 

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!!!