Big Weekend in Little Rock!

A while back, Becky mentioned that she, Jonathan and baby Alexander would be going to Little Rock the weekend of August 24th. After Chris and I talked it over, we decided this would be an excellent opportunity for us to meet Baby A, see more LR friends and get out of town for the weekend! Of course, getaways with two 22-month olds are plenty of work, as you can imagine, but all in all our trip was a wonderful success! We left Saturday and came back Sunday and had tons of fun!

This little set of pictures is actually from Friday.

Lately the girls are loving what I refer to as "Sister Time." The way it works is that Twin 1 wakes up from her nap and hangs out with me until Twin 2 wakes up. Then I take Twin 1 in to see Twin 2, and Twin 1 about jumps out of my arms trying to get in Twin 2's crib. I've learned not to fight it: I just give them lots of toys and books, and they entertain themselves for up to 30-45 minutes! If I try to take them out before they're ready, they will say, "No get out."

I can't even bribe them out with snacks when they're having Sister Time. They just look at me like I'm crazy if I suggest it, and then they loudly proclaim, "NO SNACKS!" and go right back to what they were doing before. Sometimes they don't even look up at me! It's really precious -- they talk, sing and (pretend to) read to each other during Sister Time. It melts my old mama's heart. And gives me a chance to drink my afternoon coffee. ;)

JJ came to visit us Friday afternoon! We tried several times to get a picture of her with the girls, but most of them turned out about like this!

Finally, Chris had the idea of letting them watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Once again, Mickey saves the day!

Rachel let me know that a fabulous double stroller was available at the consignment sale last weekend, so I swooped in and claimed it as soon as I could! Chris and I are planning on getting them dolls for their birthday (shhh! don't tell!), so we hid this in a closet until October 12th. Alas, T found it.

E entertained herself by pushing two twin Raggedy Anns around in it while we packed for our trip. Then I snuck it right back into the closet!

These big girls eat yogurt by themselves these days!

On the way to LR Saturday morning, Tamsie loved holding Chris's hand.

Once we checked into our hotel, our first stop was to visit my college friend April who has a set of twins that surprised everyone by arriving at 31 weeks -- the day before T and E were born!

Needless to say, we have a special bond, having gone through such similar experiences! It was so much fun watching the girls play together and getting to visit with April and Derek!

Looks like their girls have posed for a picture or two! ;) Mine are clearly over the photo session at this point!

Saturday night we met up at Chuy's (YUM!) with Becky, Jonathan and Alexander, plus another friend from OBU, Jessica, her husband Scott (who also happens to be an identical twin!) and their son Dean. Somehow I totally failed to take any pictures! :( In fact, I captured nary a picture of Baby A this weekend! I guess we were too busy catching up and enjoying ourselves.

Sunday morning was noteworthy because I became THAT MOM at Starbuck's whose crazy child runs laughing hysterically behind the counter and then up to random strangers' tables. Chris had Tamsie, I was trying to juggle a coffee and a cup of water, and E took that opportunity to go bananas!

She also took many opportunities to sing the song she has written, "O banana!"

Watching the magical Elmo brushing teeth video on YouTube while brushing their teeth Sunday morning

I finally got to see JP's sweet little baby Olivia ... and JP too! ;)

T and E decided to hit their low point of the weekend in their presence. I guess they had gone as far as they could go.
Thus the Wubbies, you see.

With JP. This was hideous lighting for me, but as JP said, one day we will look back on this and think how nice and young we looked! ha!

Fascinated by the fishies in the lobby

They kept running from one side of the bridge to the other, saying, "More fish! More fish!"

At least Becky and I managed to get a picture together at lunch, although I'm 99% sure babies were going crazy at the time and our husbands may or may not have been in favor of this photo op. Or maybe that was just Chris. 

We had a wonderful trip to LR and loved seeing everyone!

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things...

I have a few special stations on Pandora set up for T and E, and one of them thinks that we want to hear selections from The Sound of Music 24/7. I think it's because they played "My Favorite Things" one time, the girls really took a liking to it, and so I clicked that thumbs-up thingy. Now they must think we're junkies because it is truly neverending -- which is OK. But now you can guarantee that one of the songs will be stuck in my head at any given time.

Or perhaps I'm singing numbers from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. If you've been on Pinterest lately, I'm sure I've bombed your home page (is that what people call those anymore or is that a 90s term? I have no idea!) with items the Mouse himself would love and be proud of, because I'm thinking that's the theme we're going to go with for T and E's 2nd birthday party! As obsessed as they are, I can't imagine it being anything other than a huge hit.

Thank you Netflix for unleashing this into our lives.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post a round-up of a few of our favorite things that we're loving these days. Who knows, maybe it will help someone out! :)

1. Honest sunscreen:

Actually I have yet to meet a product from Honest that I'm not loving.

2. Thermos Funtainers

These are the best straw sippys we've found. Our sweet friend Tara let us borrow a couple that belong to her kids so that we could try them out before buying them, and we just loved them! 

However, T is not above finding my water cup and drinking from it when she can get away with it. This morning she snuck off to the living room while I was getting E dressed for the day, and when we went looking for her, this is what we found:

 She was just sitting on the couch, drinking from my cup and watching Sesame Street like she knew what she was doing!

3. Consignment sales
Last week we participated in/shopped at the sale at Germantown United Methodist, and we came home with a ton of new bows, a few new books and this:

 This is something I never would have wanted to pay full price for, but ever since I brought it home, the girls have been loving it. It was well worth the $15 I paid for it.

If you're in the Cordova area, you should totally check out the Here We Grow sale going on at 8014 Club Center Drive #2, right by Cici's Pizza! It's for a great cause, and T and E are consigning some items at the sale too. :) I found a fabulous double doll stroller there for $7 that I snatched up to go along with T and E's birthday present!

Carissa called and told me she's also had great success at the Emmanuel UMC Consignment Sale going on this weekend. We've both decided we're a little obsessed with the deals we've been finding! :)

4. Books
When are we not loving books?! Sadly, T and E are getting burnt out on their old standbys, so now we're having to add to our collection. But fortunately, Polite as a Princess is still a favorite, and last time we read it they told me who the princesses REALLY are:

Belle = Aunt Mo, Jasmine = Aunt Jennifer, Cinderella = YaYa, and Sleeping Beauty = both Aunt Carissa and Mama, somehow. Still not sure who Ariel really is, but it was suggested that Snow White might be Amma. 

When E started fussing because it was time to share a toy with T, this book from Gigi cheered her right on up!

This book remains ridiculously popular around our house.

5. Anything that helps with the teething process
Hylands teething tablets qualify, as does anything that can be pushed into the back of a mouth and chewed.

6. Brushing teeth is a new favorite thing to do.

 I think it has everything to do with this Elmo video we found that they want to watch over and over and over. (And over.)

 7. Napping
 T actually asked if she could go down for a nap today. I'm loving it!

They also like pretending to nap, as T demonstrates here.

8. Pouches
These grab-and-go snacks are a persistent favorite.

9. Costco
We have recently rediscovered our love for Costco, thanks to a sale on memberships that Zulily offered a while back.

This is one of my favorite lunchtime foods! T and E like to eat it too. I must say the lentils are extra fabulous when a nice big helping of cheese is added!

I bought these popsicles for myself from Costco, but the girls have recently become enamored with them as well.

 10. Getting into things that are off-limits
... like this bookshelf in the living room. OK, so maybe this is one of their favorites... not so much one of mine! They particularly love this picture, and if I ever hear them talking about Rachel, Jennifer and Mommy I know I need to get over there and intervene ASAP!!

11. Kidfresh Wagon Wheels Mac + Cheese

In the world of T and E, all macaroni and cheese dishes are NOT created equal, but this one happens to be at the very top of their list. They don't often clean their plates, but they do when this is what's offered. I'm not gonna lie, it really is yummy!

 12. This wagon
We found it at Bargain Hunt, and it has made everyone's lives easier!

 13. This brush
...detangles without tears. That's what I'm talking about!!

OK, so I caved last week and bought one for myself too.

14. Pinterest Told Me To

Friends are always asking me for blog recommendations, since I kind of have a habit, but this is my latest discovery in the blogosphere. It's just a fun little fashion blog that has become rather addicting for me. Maybe one of these days I'll make a big post just about excellent blogs!

15. ABC Jesus Loves Me

This is a wonderful free curriculum I've started with the girls. Jennifer W. (who is having a baby girl no later than Aug. 29th!!!!!!!) told me about it ages ago, and it is awesome! It gives me great ideas of fun things to do with the girls that teach them good basics.

Well something tells me that naptime is nearing an end, so I'd better wrap this up. Y'all have a wonderful weekend, and tell Carissa HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!!!!

Playgrounds, Ponytails and Preciousness

Now I think the girls have entered a phase where I generally forget to take pictures when we're out doing fun things -- probably because we're out doing fun things, so my hands are full and my attention is on them entirely. Even when Chris is with me, that's a one-to-one ratio, so I'm still too busy to manage to supervise them fully, live in the moment and still capture a semblance of it all in a picture or two. 

For example, this week, something huge happened. HUGE, y'all. Tamsie, Evangelyn and I met up with friends at the playground. "All by self," as T and E would say. We got ready and went to the playground, where we all had a marvelous time, and by the grace of God, no one got hurt! I know this sounds ridiculous to mothers of non-multiples, and probably even to mothers of less-busy multiples, but I've always been terrified of trying this by myself, since both of them are so insanely busy and daring, and since I'm the only one of the three of us who has any trace of a sense of danger. But a new day has dawned. I think we've got this! :)

Of course I have no pictures to show for it.

We also had a wonderful time meeting up with Ben, Rachael and Caroline, our dear friends from Louisville who now live nearby, earlier this week for dinner and then again yesterday for a zoo trip. But alas, no pictures were taken!

However, I have managed to get plenty of sweet pictures over the past few days, so I'll go ahead and share what I do have!

These silly girls entertain each other constantly. Well, when they're respecting each other's space and not stealing whatever they can from each other. Here they were trying to hold hands during lunch, and they found the whole thing hilarious! Lately they've even been holding hands and singing "Ring Around the Rosey" with me, all three of us running around in a circle. They're getting so big!

This girl woke up before her sister did and proceeded to talk and talk about Carissa, so I texted Carissa this picture and told her so. She texted back and properly identified this girl as Evie! She sure knows those twinster nieces of hers!

Lots of times when I'm trying to take a picture of them, they refuse to look anywhere in the vacinity of the camera, so I'll just tell them to look up. This is often what I get. 

Tamsie girl all worn out after her first day back at Mother's Day Out for the semester

For those of you not on Facebook, I made a little sign for them to hold and take a picture with for their first day back at MDO. Alas. It was not to be. They fought over this thing as if it were something really special. 

I couldn't even get a proper picture with them holding the sign individually. Here's E, but you can't see the sign and she's sitting in T's chair. 

They pretty much destroyed the sign. At this point, I was just laughing at how ridiculous my whole attempt had been -- as if they would actually stand on either side holding this sign! Ha!

I had to ask Tamsie to point at the TV in order to see her face for a picture. At least she complied.

Evie was slightly more cooperative. 

Oh well, there are the two of them and there's the sign.
This weekend my in-laws had the opportunity to witness the crazy process I go through trying to photograph the girls at this age. I think they have a new appreciation for the handful of pictures that do turn out OK now! ha!

Watching what apparently qualifies in their minds as the World's Most Fascinating TV Show Ever: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We don't have cable, and there is exactly one episode of this show on Netflix, and yet they want to watch it every day. All day. It ends and they say, "It's stuck!" -- like something's wrong with it -- and then "We watch it again?" ... and the answer is NO. Every time. It's to the point where they'll randomly say "No Mickey Mouse" in sad little voices at odd times throughout the day.

This is the first show they have ever sat and watched for any length of time.

I took this opportunity to try out a ponytail in T's hair for the first time. We're both still perfecting our skills here: she has a hard time not moving her head around, and I have a hard time getting her hair to do what I want it to.

But still, it's the girl's first ponytail, so I think it deserves to be well-documented. :)

Friday night Melissa and I and our moms got together with Carissa and her mom for C's grand 30th celebration! This was the delicious chocolate and cherry cake Mrs. Betty made for the occasion.

And here is C herself, complete with a BABY BELLY!!! You have no idea how hard it has been to keep this little secret in on here, but I have been good... of course! :)

Papa Herbie and YaYa came to town this weekend. I absolutely love to see the love they have for the girls and the love the girls have for them -- that's a LOT of love!!!!!

They brought the girls two fabulous surprises: these gorgeous outfits!!!

Here the girls were watching various music videos from Sesame Street on YouTube. They have learned how to operate Chris's tablet... look out, world!

E cuddles with YaYa after her afternoon nap.

My dad took this picture of us walking with T after dinner tonight....

... and of E with her Amma! These girls are dearly loved by all their grandparents!!