Twin moments

There are times every day where I comment to myself, "This is why God designed women to have one baby at a time." 

And there are other moments where I feel sorry for people who don't have twins.

Mason

I guess I'm not quite as irritated with Mason this week, because he looked kind of cute to me today.

Timing is everything

Yesterday morning I helped Anna climb out of bed and took her downstairs where I told her she should go to the bathroom.  She told me she'd already gone.

"No, you haven't, Sweety," I replied, "You just got up."

"I alweady did," she insisted again.

"Where did you go?" I asked, despite the fact that I'd been with her the entire three minutes since she'd gotten up.

"Upstairs," she replied.

"Oh, yeah?"  Then, to see how far she was going to take this facade, I asked, "When?"

"Before I went to sleep," she adamantly told me.

Okay, she got me there.  She had, in fact, gone to the bathroom 11 1/2 hours earlier.

15 *seconds* of fame

Yeah, so we're super famous now, or at least we were for a portion of a minute last week.  One of the pictures I took of Kate and Connor from next door was featured as the weather shot of the day on the news! 

I had no idea it was chosen, so we missed it entirely, but my friend took a picture of her TV on her camera phone.

Bathtime bubbles

My parents got the girls some bubble wands specifically designed to stick to the edge of the tub.  I have to admit, I didn't have the foresight to imagine just how much fun they would be.

"Why?"

Luke and Ally demand to know why they have to share everything!

Tasteful nudes

I'm a sucker for a naked baby.  What's cuter?  Really.

But, in the interest of taste, my babies are well covered.

Okay, so now have I earned the right to post a tasteless picture?

Anna puts her underwear on upside down, sideways, pretty much any way they aren't meant to go on.  It can't be comfortable, but she never seems to notice.  I think it's pretty funny.

And the winner is...

Of course twins shouldn't be compared with each other.  Ally and Luke are two separate individuals doing things on their own pace. 

But, in case you're keeping score... surely I'm not... Ally was first to sit, Ally was first to move around by rolling and pushing backwards, but Luke...

was the first to cut a tooth.

Boat brigade

Oh, the fun kids can have with some melting snow and a few pairs of rainboots!

Much like the puddle in the back yard, the culvert in the front yard is a source of great entertainment in the spring. Last year, we spent hours tossing in sticks and watching them race across our yard and under the driveway.

This year, our friend Kellie turned things up a notch by expanding the race course across three yards and two driveways and even tossing in a few plastic boats.

On your marks, get set, go!

And the winner is...

Anna rooted herself on the whole time, yelling, "Go, Anna!  Go, Anna!"

First batch

We made our first batch of maple syrup on Monday, boiling a half gallon of sap down to a couple tablespoons of syrup.

I transfered the remaining sap/syrup to a smaller pot.

YUM!

The smell of oatmeal in the morning

I passed Anna the bowl of Life cereal she wanted for breakfast and then handed Kate her oatmeal. 

Anna immediately recoiled slightly from the table.  Her little hand flew up to cover her nose, and a look of nausea came over her face.  "Kate," she said grumpily, "whenever you eat 'o me no,' my nose smells it!"

Kate looked at Anna for a moment.  "Anna..." she started, but stopped.  Kate then looked at me and, shaking her head slighly, commented, "I think she's overreacting."

This can't be good

As is our tradition, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with corned beef and cabbage at the Schwakes' house.  Dave was holding Luke while he drank his celebratory pint of Guiness beer.  Luke kept reaching for the glass, opening his mouth for a taste.  Dave could hardly get a sip himself, with all of Luke's begging.  Finally, I said, "Oh, just give him a sip.  That'll stop him from begging."  I knew it was kind of mean, giving a baby who won't eat any of his pureed foods and gags incessantly on Tylenol a taste of such a strong beer, but I figured, at best, it would teach him to listen when we tell him not to grab for things and, at worst, Dave could enjoy his beer in peace.

Dave shook his head at my suggestion but complied.  As he let Luke raise the glass to his mouth, a few of us gathered to see the inevitable look of disgust that would cross Luke's face.  Luke took a sip, swallowed, and reached back for the cup.  We all figured he must not have gotten a taste, so Dave let him take another sip.  This time he got a good mouthful, and, sure enough, he reached back for more. 

The baby who rarely lets anything besides breastmilk cross his lips, won't even take that from a bottle, and gags at about half the food he's offered, was begging for more Guiness.  Dave took the glass out of Luke's hands and set it away from him on the counter.  Luke began to cry... hard.  Our little guy who rarely gets angry, was incredibly mad we'd taken his beer away. 

As I titled this post, this can't be good!

What a difference a tree makes

 Our neighbors and I enjoyed some sap this morning, fresh from the tree. 

Tapping the tree

Last spring Kate and I went to a program about making maple syrup at the nature center.  I thought of all the maple leaves we'd raked up the previous fall and was excited at the prospect of tapping our own tree.  Since it was too late in spring by that point, I'd planned to do it this spring.

As summer turned to fall and the girls and I collected maple leaves for art projects, I once again thought about tapping this spring.  Over the winter, we read about Laura and Mary eating the maple sugar candy that Pa had made for them.  I talked about how we could make our own maple syrup soon.

Two weeks ago, after I'd taken the older girls to another program at a nature center, we tapped the tree in our front yard.  We waited for the days to grow a little warmer so we could begin collecting sap in the blue bag we'd mounted on the tree. 

After a few days the temperatures began to get above 30 degrees, but we hadn't collected any sap.  I did a little more research and learned the temperatures had to get closer to 40.  After a week, the temperatures began to push 40, but we still hadn't collected any sap.  I pulled the spire out to make sure it wasn't clogged.  It wasn't. 

After a few more days without any sap, I tapped a second spot in the tree, just in case I'd done something wrong the first time.

More days passed, and the temperatures were ideal, cold nights and warm days.  Each morning, Kate and I would look outside and be disappointed to find no sap filling up the bag.  I would encourage Kate by saying, "We just have to be patient.  The sap will flow soon."  And, once she was out of earshot comment to Dave, "I don't know what's going on!"

I felt horrible about all the time I'd spent getting Kate so excited.  She'd drawn a picture about the steps of tapping a maple tree.  She'd blogged about it.  She'd even based a math project around tapping a maple tree.

A couple days ago, we were at the Audubon Nature Center, where all the sap bags were swollen with sap.  I asked a man collecting sap what might be wrong.  We talked a couple minutes and I verified that I'd drilled at the right height and to the right depth.  I'd tapped at just the right time.  I'd disinfected the drill and the spile.  I'd made sure the spile wasn't plugged.  He had no idea what could be wrong.

Recently even Anna commented on the empty bag hanging from the tree.  "I think our tree must be clogged," she commented, shaking her head.

Then today, out of nowhere, Dave came up with a theory.  I did a little research, found he was right, and we have sap dripping into the blue bag even as I write this.

I'd checked everything:

Tap the tree in early March - check
Use a 5/8 inch drill bit - check
Sterilize drill bit and spile - check
Drill 3-4 feet high on the tree - check
Drill 2-3 inches into the tree - check
Tap the spile in until the taps sound solid - check
Make sure the tree is wide enough - check
Make sure the tree you're tapping is a maple tree - Um, well, there were maple leaves all over our front yard...

But, we have two trees in the front yard.

I have now tapped the maple tree.  And the sap started flowing even as I drilled the hole.

The swingset

Last spring when Dave and I spent four tiring days constructing a monstrosity of a swingset in our backyard, it was days like this we imagined.  The first warm days of the year, when I could reattach the swings for the season, and the kids, thrilled, could run outside... and immediately notice the gigantic puddle our driveway has become, and not give the swingset a second glance.

Heaven just might be 52 degrees

It hit 52 degrees here yesterday.  And, after a long Wisconsin winter, it felt downright tropical.  We played outside, continually commenting on how gorgeous the weather was, and even broke out the sunhats.

Emmett enjoyed the weather with us, too!