Nothing to See Here

No really. Nothing here. I'm taking a short break from the blog because I'm tired, preoccupied with work, and just not feeling the need to blog. From time to time something crosses my mind and I think its blog-worthy, but by the time we get the boys to bed, I'm just want to get to bed. I'm not complaining, just recognizing that I need to rest and get back to normal before I spend time blogging. 


Oh, if you're a twin-mom, and you've been hearing, "oh, it gets so easy once they turn 3" for three years, rest assured that it's true. They are easier. Less pissy and more happy. And way, way, way more active during the day. Wow. 


Can't resist a quick pic from the party. 

BellyMomma's Birthday

Today we wish a happy birthday to this little lady, all grown up.

I have a coworker who insists that a person should thank their mother on their birthdays, so let's all thank Nana and Oupa for raising such a wonderful daughter who is loving, caring and selfless enough to grow me some good looking babies. I know, for a second you thought the wonderful daughter was me, right? I figured that. I'm pretty awesome.

Nana rocks a hat, no? Almost as stylish as Oupa's hairdo. Karen is the glowing happy kid, and I'm the fat cheeked sleeping baby.

Naturally I take credit for some of Karen's patience. We younger children invade the older's lives and send our siblings though a bootcamp of making them share toys and attention, and mostly that makes them more patient. Or it makes them secretly hate us, who knows. I am lucky to have had a big sister who was a protector and let me tag along many a time.  

Wow I had fat cheeks.

As the younger child, I followed Karen's footsteps at school. In Kindergarten, I distinctly remember getting sent on an errand by my teacher to go take a note to an older grade's teacher. This particular teacher was Karen's teacher the year before, and when I arrived, she summoned the other two teachers on the hallway. LOOK! she said, and had me stand there like a specimen on display, it's Karen's little sister. OOOOOH, the other teachers said, Karen! Ooooooh, ...and they gushed and reminisced about how perfect Karen was for at least 5 minutes. And then, this is the funniest part, they inspected my hair. See, Karen had long golden locks that teachers loved and loved to brush. And I had really short dark curly hair, and no one, NO ONE should brush curly hair. I digress. My point is that Karen was obviously a kiss ass and that's why her teachers loved her.

Hahahah. Just kidding. See? Younger siblings, we do this. More than likely it was her mellow and happy ways that endeared, and still endears her to people. She's got dad's soft heart and mom's calm and caring demeanor, and people love her for both. And, now that she's older, she has my curly hair too.

Here her hair is not quite long yet, but you can see it was lighter in color. Don't you think Rhett favors her?

Happy birthday, Karen! We love you and I couldn't ask for a better big sister*

*Except for the time you kicked me off the couch and we both got spanked. That sucked, and it was totally your fault.

Snapshots from Disney

Courtesy of BellyMomma. I'll add her comments when I have a longer break.



Soon

The desire to blog is being overshadowed by the need to work long, long days. Back at you this weekend. Yes, I know you want pictures of the party. Patience, young grasshopper.

11 hours of sleep and a few really long vigorous walks really does a person good. Good enough to feel like blogging again. I was going to blog about how nice the weather is and how we were actually able to play outside today, but I'm guessing you want to know about the boys' birthdays', right?

So, on Friday the boys went to school, where they were the stars of the birthday party. They were most excited to take their friends the cupcakes we made. I'm not sure what else was done during their birthday, but I do know balloons and a whole lot of glitter was involved. 

And when we came home we waited for Nana and Oupa to arrive. For the first time in weeks we played about the front yard while waiting. Here we are hunting for squirrels. Cole claimed he saw a squiwwel from where he stood and Grady was coming to that spot to see if this was indeed true. 

The next 30 minutes is of little significance because, if we have to be frank, it was just filler time until we could go inside and open presents! Nana and Oupa arrived, Dada got home, and we beelined for the gifts. 


Here we are tearing into the gifts from Aunt Linda and Uncle Fred. She's always good at picking out car/truck toys. And a cute shirt that was appreciated by the mom of the house, but not the children. 

And then we came to the next few gifts. Which were from the two sets of grandparents. Sort of. Both sets of grandparents said "ooh, we'll give some money and you can get them shoes/pajamas/socks/whatever practical items you might need." Which is so thoughtful, but honestly, a new pair of socks doesn't keep a kid entertained for 30 minutes while Momma cooks dinner, ya know?


So Mr.Amazon and I spent that money on a kiddie digital camera and a kiddie laptop for each kid. Both were big hits.

As was the light up toy Nana and Oupa brought.

And then presents were opened and it was time to play! Say please! -we don'y say "cheese", we say "please". 

And then of course you have to look at the picture you just took. In unison, 'cause that's what we do.

Now Nana is the subject. Note how Cole's whole body is getting into it. And notice how the laptops are in position, just waiting until someone needs to look something up or brush up on their ABC's.

After Grady took this picture, he looked at the screen and said "GOT IT!". I guess I must say that a lot after taking pics.

Cole showed Nana some of her photo session's pictures. 

Of course no birthday is complete without the kids having cake at least two times that day. Nana brought a cake. I told her colorful is good, and she complied.

Cake for everyone! And flour and sugar, if anyone wants. 

The best part of the day was Nana giving the boys their bath and putting them to bed so I could bake the cake for the next days' party. 

And so I could put Oupa to work preparing the ribbons for the capes. 

And get crafting supplies organized. 

And boss Keith to bring the water bottles in so we didn't try to hydrate our guests with room temperature water. They're no Europeans. Wait. A few of them are. Hmm. I'm digressing. We spent the next two hours prepping for the party and headed to bed for a good night's sleep.

Atta bir'tay to our boys.

I always thought ahead at coming milestones when the boys were younger. I never really thought as far ahead as three years though. How did to birthday breakfast waffles having three candles?

Happy birthday to our boys!

Brain Purge

Sometimes when I see the boys' pictures I think to myself hhhmm...their hair is a little too long. But then I think, if it weren't so long, could we do this with it?

 Some afternoons its hard to keep them happy. And its hard to get them to eat much besides the same 4 items over and over. So we play a few games to make dinner fun. 


No wait. These aren't games. This is straight-up teaching, but thankfully they seem to enjoy it. 


We talk about bowls vs. plates. See, bowl is round on the bottom.

And this is a grater. Touch it! He's not so sure.

No really, touch it! Mommy's not kidding.

Grady would rather just touch the cheese.

OOOOOH, he said. Momma gwate the cheese.

And make a sammich! That was supposed to be grilled, but he said no, he wants it just like that. 

Meanwhile, someone else has taken to the ladle. See how it is round on the bottom too, Cole? His tongue is sticking out because he's saying laaaaaadlllllllleeeeee.

And he bird-pecks at the grated cheese he insisted on having. A non-grilled grilled cheese sammich, with a side of cheese.

And back to playing with the ladle. Laaaddddlleeeee.

Then he graciously shares the ladle with his brother.

And the round bowl gets soup.

Those noodles are hard to get on a spoon, though. For real.

After a full meal one must engage the mind with some imagination play. Meet our local powice man and twain 'ductor.

I sat down to do a full blog but this is turning into a photo+caption type entry, and those aren't my favorites. My mind is on tomorrow, which is the boys' 3rd (THIRD!) birthday. So, I leave you with a last few pictures before I get back to kiddie crafting prep. 

We started warming up our present opening muscles last night when we opened a little gift from GG and Grampie.


Wonder what it is....

A Mickey shirt! Just like our party! We can't wait to wear those tomorrow. 

See you all tomorrow!