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!!

30 for 30: 25-30

The time has come to wrap up my 30 for 30 so I can move on to other such topics as my favorite products for toddler twinsies, which is the next series I'm planning to post on here!

25. Appreciate the moment you're in, even though it will never be perfect. Someday you'll look back on it and miss it. Rather than focusing on what's not perfect about it, focus instead on what you're loving, and be grateful for that. This is something I have to remind my recovering-perfectionist self sometimes!

26. Be trustworthy. Keep secrets secret. This is a characteristic to value in others too! People who divulge others' secrets to you aren't likely to keep yours either.

27. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it. Just because it's on clearance doesn't mean you have to buy it. Self-control, baby. I always need more of this in my life!

28. You can always apologize for the words you say, but you can never take them back once they've been said. That's why it's so important to weigh your words, think carefully before you speak and build people up rather than tearing them down.

29. Go to church even if you don't feel like it.

30. You're younger than you think you are. And you certainly don't know everything. It's OK to not have all the answers, and it's OK to say "I don't know."

Whew! I hope these made sense. At least they did in my crazy old head as I was typing them out! 

On to pictures! I mainly have videos on my camera right now, which tend to take forever to upload into Blogger, so that's why I have so few pictures this time.

Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Tyler dropped by for a visit last weekend! All four of us love getting to hang out with them!  She's wearing a dress-up hat and scarf that belong to the girls, FYI - just in case you were curious! ha!

My silly girls are starting to look so much older... what's happening?! Here they are holding some toys from our dear friends Jennifer, Brian and Pierce!

We met up with Cliff and Carissa at story time at Barnes & Noble Saturday morning. Then we reconvened at Chick-fil-A, which wound up being a bit disastrous for the girls since it was so close to their nap time by then. At least we survived, and Carissa reassured us they weren't nearly as loud as I thought they were! :)

Over the past week or so, I've gotten a wild hair and decided to start doing some low-pressure two-year-old preschool work with the girls at home, just for fun! I'm weighing a few different curriculum options right now, so if anyone reading this has any insight on this topic, please feel free to share.

Hope your week is already off to a wonderful start! :)

All By Myself

"All by myself" is the single most popular phrase heard around our house these days. Well to be honest, it's kind of a tie between that, "all by self" and "all by yourself." And if you're wondering, YES, it does get '90s Celine Dion stuck in our heads for hours on end.... ugh! (Or is that just me??) But the girls are learning to do things ALL BY SELF, and they truly want no help from us! Independent women, y'all! Here are some pictures, because my phone is getting cluttered with them all. I'll finish the 30 for 30 next time... not enough brain power left to go there tonight.

Tamsie loves talking about Becky's little Baby A, whom we're going to Little Rock to meet next month - yay!! She's holding his birth announcement here.
(Perhaps T has this special connection because she was always labeled Baby A back in her days in the womb?)

"MOMMY'S SHOES!!!" Check out those thighs, by the way - ha!

This doesn't only happen to Mommy's shoes. Any shoes found lying around are fair game for the girls to try on, so visitors beware!

These owls at the zoo always eye me very suspiciously.

Waving at the ducks near the pandas at the zoo

Evie the Explorer

"It's a panda bear right there!" This is one of their favorite sentence constructions currently: It's a _____ right there.

The baby giraffe is always a highlight of our zoo visits.

One afternoon this week we went over to our neighbors' house for fun in their pool! The girls can't get enough Allie and Pierce in their lives. This week alone they sang a song they made up called "Jesus Loves Allie and Pierce," and they have also decided that the two kids in one of their favorite books are, in fact, none other than Allie and Pierce. 

"Look! It's Allie and Pierce!" T in particular laughs the whole time we read this because she keeps thinking it's about our friends. :) But she also saw my driver's license picture today and thought it was of Carissa, so I'm thinking she is still honing some skills there.

This past weekend, the movers brought some of my Grandma's antique furniture to our house. I know this is a really risky thing to do, but I have this vision for a super girly, vintage-y playroom for the girls -- so we moved it all upstairs. (Also there's nowhere else for it!) It took E no time at all to fall in love with the coffee table, because she found moons on top of each leg!

See what I mean? :)

The girls have rediscovered their tutus...

... and want to wear them all the time! I'm loving it, of course! :)

T is biting on her Little People princess here, just when I think they're overcoming the latest round of teething! I'm starting to think they'll be 19 one day and still teething.

They may love tutus and Caps for Sale, but they REALLY love their Granddaddy! Just this morning, T was walking around singing, "Grandaddy Grandaddy Granddaddy, now clap your hands!" Of course "Granddaddy" sounds more like "Grandy" right now, but we know what she means. :)

You mean you don't parade around with a tutu around your neck ever? Really?!

Watching a Sesame Street music video on YouTube very intently. We've been watching old episodes on Netflix, and somehow they have especially fallen in love with "I'm the Letter T" and "The Forward Backward Motion," and they want to watch them over and over and over, which means I have found versions of them to watch on YouTube. What did previous generations of parents do at times like this?

30 for 30: 11-25

Let's see how many of my 30 for 30 I can get through this time. 

Carissa and Cliff surprised us in a fabulous way by coming over and hanging out Friday afternoon! Here's T thinking something akin to "Cliff? In my car? What's wrong with this picture?!" We all know sharing is not yet T's forte. 

11. Make memories. You can sleep later! This is something I learned in college. My freshman year, sorority pledges would regularly get kidnapped by fraternity pledges, and all the sorority sisters would then be called upon to come rescue them. I am ashamed to say I never participated in any of this, because it always happened super late at night, and I wasn't about to take a chance on being up all night over something so silly! (Sorry, girls!) Well by the time I was no longer a pledge, I totally regretted being such an old grandma of an 18-year-old. After that, I decided not to let memory-making opportunities pass me by and to be more spontaneous in general -- and it's a lesson that has served me well ever since!

Tamsie picked out this dress to wear to church on Sunday. Here she's modeling a pretty hair clip from JJ.

12. True friends stand all tests -- tests of time, distance, etc. Also, Romans 12:15 talks about rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. I have found that it's hard to find friends who will be genuinely happy for you when things go your way, without a hint of jealousy, and that it's equally hard to find friends who will truly be there for you to help you out however you need it when you're going through something really difficult and you don't have much to give in return. Value the ones who are, and thank God for them constantly!

And here's E and her hair clip from JJ. We had to do a selfie -- it was the only way to get her to look at the camera!

13. You're never done making true friends if you open yourself up to it. I always say that God didn't give me sisters, but He has given me plenty of friends who may as well be -- and He just keeps adding to the number over time! When I headed to college, I was terrified of leaving behind all the friends I knew and loved growing up. Then Jane, Jenny and JJ came along. Then my sophomore year I thought probably all of my best friends were set at that point, then JT came along. Then junior year I figured I was halfway done with college and wouldn't make any more lifelong friends, and then Becky and I got to be really close. Senior year I was on my way out, and then Beth came along. Once I graduated, I was thinking that by then, all my best friends must certainly be set in stone for life. Then I met Carissa. And these are only the girls who were my bridesmaids -- there are plenty of other amazing friends that God has brought into my life over the years, way too many to list here! I've learned as I go that deep and lasting friendships are there waiting to be made if only I am willing to invest in them. Of course, new friends can never replace old ones, but who says they have to? My life is forever enriched and changed by all of these friends from different eras of my life!

Making elephant noises while listening to Daddy read

{As a side note, I received my share of grief for having 9 bridesmaids in my wedding, plus 2 who should have been there but had just had babies right before! (I remember telling my mom how many I would have. Shocked, she asked who they were, and then she said, "Yeah, I don't see how you could narrow it down any further.") Honestly, my only regret now was not giving bridesmaid status to a couple of other dear friends who totally deserved it.}

Riding around the house on a dark and stormy morning

14. Give people grace. Only God can truly fulfill you, so it's not fair to expect people to do what only He can.

Cookie-and-story time with Amma

15. Being a stay-at-home mom is glorious. I once thought it must be the most boring job in the world, but I am here to tell you it is anything but! I truly believe I am exactly where I need to be in this season of my life, and I'm so thankful to be able to do it.

The girls have been getting along MUCH better this week, which is a direct answer to prayer! There has been much sharing, and I think they're slowly learning to put Sissy's interests first. I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

16. Don't date someone you wouldn't marry. This advice served me well in my single years and saved me from a lot of heartache!

Leave them alone with Amma for any length of time, and don' t be surprised if they wind up rocking pirate hats when you return.

17. Make an effort to know why you believe what you believe, and have an open mind and a teachable spirit as you do so. Oh gracious, this is one of the most important things on my list! If you don't know what you believe, you'd better start trying to figure it out.

This is what happens when you ask them to smile: E ignores you, and T does this number.

18. Little children are such incredible blessings -- blessings that infinitely outweigh whatever messes they make or "disruptions" they cause, and they also serve as terrific reminders of what's truly important in life.

Here's E's smile later that afternoon. Lately one will nap longer than the other, so I'll get in extra one-on-one time with whoever's up first. This time it was E.

19. Admit when you're wrong -- even if it's right in the middle of an argument. This isn't always easy to do, but it's very much worth it!

This was the way our dramatic Thursday morning encounter with an enormous spider ended. T first spotted him on the ceiling and started to panic. I tried to get one vacuum hose after him, but he was too big for it, so then I got a different vacuum hose, which only knocked him down off the ceiling and onto this chair. I screamed, T screamed, E screamed -- it was intense! Then I chased him around the chair with the vacuum hose, and yet somehow he eluded being sucked away into oblivion. Finally he disappeared somewhere on the underside of this chair, so I just put the whole thing outside until Chris got home and it passed inspection. Let's be honest -- I'm still scared to sit in it though!

20. Forgive, just as you have been forgiven. 

Can you guess E's favorite color? ;)

21. Some things are worth being stubborn about; some things aren't. Know the difference.

This is their favorite food right now. All of this was consumed in one sitting, and they could have taken down even more, but I had to put a stop to it so we could incorporate a different food group into snack time. 

22. Anything worth having costs something. And I'm not just talking about material things!

Today they wanted their cottage cheese in bowls. T couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough with the spoon, so she set it aside and went bananas raking it in with her hands.

23. Know your limits, know when to ask for advice or help, and know whom to ask for advice or help.

E, however, prefers to be a little lady at times like this.

24. Be the person God made you to be, and accept whatever gifts He has given you with gratitude. Then try to find a way to bless others with them. Give them away to others, and give them back to Him. Be you! It's totally OK to be goofy and quirky if that's how He made you, and that's certainly how He's made me -- so I've learned to embrace it! :) The only thing that's not OK is not being the you He made you to be.

BTW, there are so many times when I read back over something I have written on this blog and think "that is so goofy! ARGH!" but really that's who I am, so I'm just putting it out there anyway!

E likes to fall asleep with her finger inside her paci. Speaking of, thinking of breaking their paci habits is enough to scare me into hysterics.

25. Never overestimate the importance of a good quality mom and dad. 

Whew! That's all I can handle today. Next time should be the last five! :)

30 for 30: 5-10

Today I'm just posting recent pictures and continuing the 30 for 30 series along the way! I know this will be rather random, but that's just kind of how it goes around here sometimes!

This has become a morning ritual. T puts her head down so E will give her a head massage. It's all fun and games until E pulls her hair! It's just too tempting, I guess?

 5. A sense of humor makes everything better! Seeing the silly side of things has helped get me through many an odd situation in life. And that's all I'll say about that.

One of the girls' favorite pastimes is mixing and matching and rearranging all their Little People in their various vehicles. You never know what combo you'll see, but this particular time it looks like poor Eric is driving a pink SUV around... 

... with a baby in the back!

Congrats to Ariel and Eric, I guess?

  6. Marriage and kids (while not for everyone, of course) are nothing to be afraid of. Sure, they're enormous commitments, but when you're with a good match for you, and when your relationship is founded on Christ, there really is nothing to fear. Looking back on it, now that I'm a mom, I can't believe how very, very, VERY insistent I was on waiting for a long time after marriage to have kids. Of course, that changed over time, and we caught the baby bug. (Right when the prospect of a baby was seeming less and less frightening, I happened to catch a radio interview with Steve and Candice Watters, which pretty much helped me overcome the last of my fears. Ironically, Steve would eventually become my boss at my job in the communications department at SBTS and the one to whom I would turn in my resignation when I was getting close to having the girls!) So Chris and I were married a little over three years before T and E came along, and now I'm very glad we didn't put it off any longer!

However, pregnancy/childbirth is another story altogether. Be afraid, be very afraid!! ;)

I have been on some kind of a rug binge lately. We threw out the old nursery rug -- actually Chris, who is turning out to be quite the salesman, managed to sell it to someone with much greater cleaning abilities than I have -- and replaced it with this! E was so happy she was doing a little dance here!

The girls think that the rug has moon designs all over it, for some reason. Apparently the fascination with all things lunar continues. They point to the white circles and the crescent-looking parts of the design and say, "It's a moon! It's a moon!"

7. Treat others the way you'd really like to be treated. Of course, this SURE isn't original -- thank you, Matt. 7:12! :)

Tamsie named this elephant Boo (seen here with Evie). I found this out by asking her what her name is ("Tamsie!"), what my name is ("Mommy!") and what this elephant's name is ("Boo!"). Now she will go and bring me Boo on request, so it's apparently official.

8. Live to please God, not others. Stop thinking about yourself so much. No one else is, anyway! It's a dangerous thing to be a people pleaser, and that's something I can easily fall into if I'm not careful. Galatians 1:10 has been a key verse for me here: "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."

And here is T running around while carrying the bear that Evie has named Kiwi. I found out his name the same way, and it has also stuck.

 9. Time is precious, and it goes too quickly. If you realize that a job or relationship or anything you're in is not for you, get out of it as soon as you can. One of the best things I ever did was to quit a job that clearly was not for me and move to Louisville to go to seminary. Also, speaking of time, you make time for what you want to make time for. This applies to God, friendships, everything.

Carissa and Cliff came to hang out Tuesday afternoon! This is kind of what it was like with the three of them the whole time. You should know that T started out in the picture but had vanished by the time camera had flashed.

Non-stop!

By the way, luckily for them, the girls have inherited Chris's ability to tan, as you can really see on Evie here.

These days, if Carissa and I want to have legitimate adult conversations, we talk on the phone ahead of time! Not a lot of heart-to-hearts happen around these three, but the five of us sure do have a blast hanging out! :)

10. Don't overcommit. When you do, you're stealing a blessing from someone else who should be serving in the spot that you're taking up. I've done LOTS of overcommitting since having the girls, and I'm still learning my lesson here! But also, don't undercommit. When you do, you're stealing a blessing from yourself and possibly from others you could have served had you taken on the commitment.

That's all for now! I already have some more pictures for the next post, but I think this one is long enough! :)