Fish of another color

After Red Fish died...twice, we moved on to good old fashioned gold fish.  They're wonderful.  They seem healthy, all the kids love them, they're much less finicky about what we feed them, and (drum roll) they were 59 cents!

What?  Who doesn't love two pairs of baby feet?

How did I not know this?

Are you kidding me?

How have I not heard this before?

When my friend Kellie next door told me that you could pop popcorn by putting regular popcorn kernels in a plain paper lunch bag, I barely believed her even after she told me she'd just done it.

This is like the greatest thing since sliced homemade bread... well, I actually prefer homemade pizza dough to bread, so it's the greatest thing since... okay, forget it.  I'll just say I am very excited.

It saves money!  A box of 6 bags of microwave popcorn bags is like, what?  About four bucks?  I bought 100 brown paper bags and a big bag of popcorn kernels (enough to make 50 servings) for a just over four dollars.  Each bag of popcorn we make will cost around 8 cents instead of 66 cents.  If you eat popcorn a few times a week, like we do, that will save about $100 each year.

There are no added chemicals!  I can't pronounce some of what is in those microwave popcorn bags.  All that's in the brown paper bags is popcorn kernels and air.  I've been so suspect of the chemicals in microwave popcorn, I recently started buying big bags of skinny pop because they have only oil and salt, but they're about six dollars and, honestly, the popcorn is not that tasty.

The possibilities are endless!  I only discovered this brown paper bag "secret"recently, but we've already made some fun popcorn variations including the standard butter and salt, the vegan version with Earth's Balance and salt, and also some fun ones like olive oil, salt, and rosemary, a kettle corn with butter, salt, and sugar, and an experimental salt and vinegar that I need to refine.  I love that I can control the amount of fat I put in.

So, all you do is put three tablespoons of popcorn kernels in a lunch sack and fold it over a few times.  I add a piece of scotch tape to keep it closed, but you supposedly don't have to.  You know me... anal.  Anyway, then pop it for roughly two minutes, depending on your microwave; use your popcorn button if you have one.

But, what happens if you eat popcorn with a runny nose?
You end up an inadvertent Hitler impersonator. 

Perfect purchase

We were definitely hesitant to buy a bounce house.  Wasn't it too indulgent? Was it a waste of money? But the kids are getting exercise even when I can't haul everyone outside and they're having so much fun that, for the first time in months, there are moments when Dave and I can take a breath!  This bounce house might just be our saving grace this winter.  

A great project

My friends Samantha told us about a program called Knit, Pray, Love where we could make hats for children in a Cure hospital in Afghanistan.  Making the hats was a wonderful experience. It led to many discussions about how blessed we are and how others are not as fortunate.  It was an opportunity for my kids to give their time to share the love of Jesus.  When we finished, we made a little card for the child and his/her mother that we sent with the hat.

I want to start doing more projects like this.

Kate made the purple hat on her own,
Anna helped me make the pink and purple one,
and I made the blue and grey one.  

Our dolls

When Dave first heard Anna use a name for her doll, he wouldn't even tell me what she'd said unless I promised not to blog about it.  But months have gone by, and the name has stuck, and now I feel I won't be breaking a promise since I'll blog that she still says it rather than that she once said it.  Dave was right that it's probably borderline offensive, but it's just so funny and it's just so ironic...  I'm a real sucker for ironic humor, so I have to share it.


When Kate was a baby, I bought dolls of all ethnicities.  I wanted to make sure my kids were exposed to diversity so they wouldn't be prejudiced.  I was setting the stage for my kids to see that people naturally look different.

This seemed to be working.  In fact, Anna's very favorite doll as a baby was a doll that looked African American.  That's why we were both horrified and amused when Anna started referring to that particular doll as "the delicious chocolate baby."

Luke's first time sledding

Luke is not an adventurous sort.  He's not one to see a slide and go try it out, unless Ally first shows him it's fun.

Today was Dave's Saturday to work in clinic, but there was so much snow out there that sledding was a must.  So, I spent twenty plus minutes shoving on mittens, snow pants, extra socks, coats, hats, and tucking pants into socks.

When we were finally all ready, as if it were foreshadowing, Luke pooped.  I had to remove his mittens, coat, snow pants, boots, and pants, and get him in a fresh diaper.

After we were all set to leave, I realized we didn't actually own the long sled I'd imagined packing myself and both babies on and then being able to use to pull them back up the hill, so we made a detour to the hardware store.

Then we were finally ready.  Kate announced she was hungry, and Anna chimed in with a "I'm starving," and the babies started making the noise they make when they want to eat.  I realized they probably were hungry.  Although it was before 10:00 when we started getting ready, it was now after 11.  So, I swung back home and grabbed some string cheese to pop in their mouths, although this did require removing the mittens I'd so carefully secured under sleeves so the kids couldn't pull them off.

We arrived at the sledding hill.  I was so excited.  I tied a rope on our newly purchased sled and got the babies on it.  Then I climbed on behind them.  I exclaimed in enthusiasm the whole way down and made sure to laugh to show them how fun it was, and Ally chimed in with a giggle.  All I got from Luke was a tentative, "Woh."

My plan to pull them both up in the sled was completely unrealistic.  They both tipped out of the sled nearly immediately which was the straw that broke what remained of Luke's sledding ambition.  I carried him up and lay Ally in the sled to pull her up at the same time.

After I took them down the second time, Luke made it clear there could be no third time for him.  He clung to me in utter fear.  After I held him at the top of the hill long enough to make him feel secure, I was able to set him in a sled with a belt where he could watch me take Ally down a few times.  She loved it so much she cried when it was time to go.

Luke seemed so relieved to get back in the car.  His face finally relaxed, and he fell right to sleep.

Luke's perch at the top of the hill. 

My three sledding girls.
I took this picture right after I hopped off the back after a good run!

What Luke thinks of all this sledding business.

Where have you gone?

I took these pictures of my sweet, happy Ally-girl last weekend.  I haven't seen her since.  No, don't be alarmed.  I just mean she's been a humongous grabby pants for the last three days.  She's teething and has a cold, and she's nearly unbearable with constant crying, screaming, and tantruming.  This morning I commented to Dave, "Maybe we should forego the daily Tylenol and start giving her Prozac."            

When Daddy gets home

Those d@mn soaps

Luke and Ally are obsessed with playing with the dishwasher soaps.  Countless fights have erupted over them... biting, tears, frustrated head banging, all despite the fact that there must be fifty in there.

They like to put them on the chairs or in the stroller and shopping cart and push them around the house.  They won't fight over the stroller and shopping cart, despite the fact that they're actually different, but they'll fight over the soaps, of which there are so many identical ones.

The soaps are constantly strewn throughout the house.  And when we actually need to use one for the dishwasher, they're so crumbled they look more like the powder kind than the chunks they once were.

Giving the soaps a ride on their new rocker.

True love.

I wonder...

I wonder if I'll be the only mom at the library today who has a kid wearing a swimsuit.

Enjoying this time...

My babies are adorable.  They're funny.  I love them with all my heart, and I'm inexplicably grateful to be their mother.

I am having a day, however, where it is very hard to ignore the fact that they spend every waking minute searching for things to... well, to destroy.  It seems dramatic, but it's pretty much what they do.  They wreck a lot of things in their effort to explore them.  If I'm not diligently chasing them, often in separate directions, things get ruined, or at the very least, things get extremely messy.

In the, roughly, two and a half minutes I've taken to write this in an effort to regain some sanity, Luke emptied a box of greeting cards, and Ally threw the greeting cards in the Pack N Play.  (I let them do it, since the cards are mostly wrinkled beyond salvaging from the dozen other times they tried this trick.)  I retrieved Dave's bobble heads out of their hands, just in time so save all but one from breaking.  Luke threw the coasters around the living room floor for the third time today, Ally dumped out the wastebasket, and Luke emptied the paper from the printer so Ally could ball it up and throw it into the recently emptied wastebasket.

I remember Kate and Anna doing these same type of things, but it's just so much harder with two.  Plus there is rarely a moment without one of them crying.  If neither of them is just in a bad mood from teething, then they're inevitably arguing over some toy or recovering from a bite wound which resulted from an argument.

It is a stage; it will pass.  When it does, I will look at other toddlers, think they're so cute, and miss mine being so young.  Yeah, well, it still doesn't make today super easy... or yesterday, or tomorrow.  I'm exhausted.  How many times a day can I put the sippy cups back in the drawer, the games back in the game cupboard, or the magazines back in the rack?  You'd be surprised.

And, you know what makes me most exhausted of all, trying to "enjoy this time."  I live my life worrying about the advice I've gotten from countless old women and several men in the grocery stores or at Target.  I'm trying to enjoy this time.  I believe it goes fast.  I love my kids and dread them growing up and moving away.  But, how much enjoyment is enough?  Is it okay to enjoy my pre-bedtime cuddles along with some extra-great moments every day, but not enjoy the fact that trying to do anything (make a meal, clean up a meal, do any activity with the older two) is a struggle?

Here is one of the best things I've read as a mom that I need to continually reread to reassure myself it's okay.  I want to share it with you.

Will you share?

Our grocery store gives out free full-sized cookies to the kids.  I have only twice before let Luke or Ally have even a little bit of a cookie, but last week we were having a particularly difficult trip and I gave them each a whole one.

One woman saw us waiting in the check out line.  She looked back and forth between Anna driving the car in front and continually whining about how she wanted lunch to Luke and Ally sitting up in the seat part.   After a moment she said to the Luke, who was still eating his cookie although Ally had finished, "A cookie?  You have a cookie?"  I felt so guilty about giving my babies cookies, that I mentally said, You ever try shopping with bickering twin one-year-olds and a moody preschooler? Huh?  Have you?  Thankfully, I just smiled, because I soon realized she was just trying to make conversation with my kids.

I did think it was a little weird that this lady and another cashier both asked Luke if they could have a bite of his cookie and the cashier even added, "I'm tempted to put my face there and see if he'll give me a bite." Really?  You want that soggy thing a strange kid sucked on?  Do you think he wants your face in his cookie? I don't. Again with the mental comeback as I smiled and said, "He might share, depending on his mood, but his sister here, she'd never share."

As we walked out to the car, I too became curious if Luke would share his cookie.  I asked, "Lukey, can I have a bite of your cookie?"  He just looked at me.  "Mmmm.  Give Mommy a bite."  He looked at me some more, his brow now furrowed, then he took the cookie and hid it behind his back.  I laughed.  Then, quick as a flash, Ally grabbed the cookie from his hidden hand and held it up to my face.  No way would she share her cookie, but she'd be happy to share Luke's.

Face Time

Dave's parents are big into technology.  They have more computers in their house right now than I have owned in my lifetime.  The girls love that Grandma is tech savvy, as they can see her, and she them, when  they talk using "FaceTime" on Dave's iPad.  Anna still doesn't understand why my parents can't see what she holds up to the phone when she's talking to them.

Last week, Dave set up his iPad in front of the girls and got his mom on Face Time to talk for Anna's birthday.  Ally and Luke heard Grandma's voice and tried to get in on the action.  It was a little chaotic, but everyone was taking turns talking to Grandma.  At one point, Ally bumped the iPad and it tipped backwards.  Anna looked worried and asked, "Are you okay, Grandma?"

"Scks, shss."

I started to wonder...  Maybe Luke didn't want to walk at the Audubon Thursday because he didn't like the feel of the hand-me-down outdoor shoes I'd put him in.  He always wears Robeez, but I wanted some real soles for our hike.  I thought about ordering him some shoes, so I printed out a sheet to measure his feet.  He needed a 5 1/2.  What size were those I'd put on him?  4.  Oh.  Um, that probably didn't help.  I had tried to make sure they'd fit, but it's so hard to tell.

So I ordered him his first pair of outdoor shoes, and they miraculously arrived yesterday, less than 24 hours after I'd ordered them.

Anyway, he loves them.  He loves, loves, loves them.

He had to nap in them yesterday, and he cried hysterically when Dave took them off to put on his pajamas last night.

This morning, the first thing he did was beg me to put them back on.  They wouldn't fit over his footy pajamas so I grabbed some socks and took off his pajamas.  His diaper had soaked his onsie, so I took that off too, and his old diaper.  The whole time I was undressing him, he impatiently demanded, "Shss (shoes), shss, shss, shss..."  So, before I even put on a fresh diaper, I slipped on his socks and shoes.  He was thrilled.  He got up and started to dance around, admiring his feet, saying, "Scks (socks), shss.  Scks, shss.  Scks, shss."

There he was, completely naked, except for his socks and outdoor shoes, just prancing around the room in joy.  He chanted, "Scks, shss.  Scks, shss.  Scks, shss," with a giant grin on his face, his little bare butt out, his little baby parts bouncing around.  I was just laughing at him.

At one point, Ally picked up a worn sock and began following him around the room.  As soon as he bent over to pick up a toy, Ally, who loves to try to help "wipe" Anna after she goes to the bathroom, began to rub it up and down Luke's bare bottom.

It was all just too much.  I was laughing so hard, I could barely stay upright.

Lest it be misunderstood

Just because my twins love to walk all over the house, run down the driveway, and attempt quick escapes in public does not mean they will walk more than ten steps if I go through the effort of taking them on a "hike" at the Audubon where they can safely run outside.

Thankfully, I had come prepared to get them through the parking lot by taking the ergo.  That way I could carry one on my back and hold the other in front.  But, as one can imagine, this mode of transporting them proved very tiring after several minutes and even worse when I had to do it the entire time.  And, of course, today would be the day that Anna enjoyed herself and wanted to take an ambitious route... until we reached the end of our hike.  As we headed up a long, steep hill, and I was audibly grunting, Anna declared herself to be "completely zausted" and wanted me to hold her as well.  That didn't happen.

This is when Ally first decided the whole walking thing wasn't going to work for her.

In case I didn't understand.  She didn't want to walk!

I tried to see if Luke would walk so Ally could go on my back.
This is the farthest he got from my side.

But Anna was having fun digging for treasure.

I put them both down to rest for a moment.
They played and had a great time in the fresh air... oh, wait, no.
They cried the whole time.

More belly adoration

Ball

Luke learned to peel clementines over the weekend.  Now he always wants to peel them and separate the segments, even when he's not hungry.  He'll demand, "Ball!  Ball!  Ball!"  And if we don't retrieve one for him, he'll go to the refrigerator, pull at the handle, and grunt with effort, to send us the message that he can't exactly open it on his own; why aren't we helping him?

A bridge

Anna looked at Kate sitting beside her as they had a snack and said, "Kate, the freckles think your nose is a bridge to go from one cheek to the other."

Tea for two

My lovely Anna.  She needs so much.

I try to take a little time each weekday to spend with just her.

Last week we had ourselves a little tea party while the babies slept.

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Anna turned four yesterday, amidst Kate getting her appetite back following the stomach flu and Luke's recovery from his tube surgery.  Luckily, she considers her birthday to continue through our trip to the water park.

She didn't get the pet dolphin she'd hoped for, or even the dolphin tank, but I did prop a nice paper dolphin atop her cake, which made the cake a sort of tank.

Love that belly

None of my kids have ever been chubby.  

Well, okay, I guess I try to be honest, so... none of my kids have been anything but downright scrawny, until Ally.  She is probably just average, but to me, she's a perfectly chubby little cherub.

Look.  At.  That.  BELLY!

She knows we love her belly, and she's started to take some pride in it herself.

Maybe to the point where poor Luke is feeling just a tad inadequate.