the budding athletes

The last couple of days were Field Days at the girls' school. They are quite the
little
athletes. They loved the activity and they loved playing with their friends. The parents were invited to watch and take pictures but Daddy and I and Little M were the only ones there. We just had to take the opportunity to watch them interact with other kids. With the school's carpool, we never get to see them in the school environment. It was a lot of fun and Daddy and I got a kick at seeing that they are the biggest kids in class. :p

Thing 1 is wearing Pink shirt with Blue pants, and Thing 2 is wearing Purple shirt and Pink pants.

[slideshow]

Using some quiet energy

Our stuff was delivered on Friday, and was unpacked (some but not all) on Saturday. Now instead of being surrounded by boxes and boxes, we surrounded by our stuff on every surface imaginable. Who knew "unpacking" service means they take stuff out of the box and put it on a flat surface.

Now we are busy unpacking in the house and packing the apartment in time for check out tomorrow morning. With the craziness, the kids have been left to their own devices and as a result have way too much energy. With Curious George, it also means difficult behavior. He has been flat out defiant lately.

Anyway, they founf their PlayDo somewhere in the mound of unboxed toys and now playing with it. We can only hope that this makes them agreeable instead of little monsters later.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

update on the 3 silly ducklings

Curious George:

He is going to pre-k 3 days a week in preparation for kindergarten. His mood continues to be dependent on the amount of sleep he gets. He is a Lego fiend at the moment asking for small Legos whenever we go to the store. For a period of 2 weeks, he kept a Lego catalog close to him at all times "reading" it whenever he finds a second and plans his future with it. "I want this for Christmas, and this one for my birthday, and the next Christmas..."

He continually amazes as with he says everyday. For instance, during past conversations I've told him that when we look for a new house it may have to be a house without stairs because Mommy's knees hurt. Then several days later, he told me out of the blue that it should be OK to have small stairs and that he, his sisters and Daddy would sleep upstairs and I stay downstairs so that I don't have to hurt my knees using the stairs.

Yesterday, Daddy and I attended a 5-week hr-long parenting class. Daddy and I were quite excited about what we learned and having an animated discussion about it. Curious George thought we were fighting and told us to stop. I explained that we weren't fighting, but instead discussing what we learned in class. He asked what we learned, so I told him it was all about what we could do so that we are not always yelling and getting mad at him. His response was, "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT ALL MY LIFE!!" Daddy and I burst out laughing.


THING 1:

Thing 1 is a sassy little thing who seems to be always at odds with me. Daddy says she's just like me...stubborn. I've said a few times that Thing 1 is Daddy's girl, but she does come to me when she's sick. ;p She is a rough and tumble girl, it seems. During a period of a couple of weeks when Thing 2 was sick, Thing 1 and Curious George played a lot with each other. Curious George throws his weight around and surprisingly, Thing 1 kept up with him. Even now, she and Curious George wrestles with each other. Thing 1 sometimes protests but usually all smiles and giggles.

Thing 1 has also developed a love for her big brother's shirt. She demands that whatever shirt she is wearing be taken off and then she grabs whatever shirt she could find of Curious George's. Sometimes she grabs a PJ he takes off as soon as he takes them off.

Her language explosion was a few weeks behind Thing 2's but they are both very good talkers. She loves to watch Dora The Explorer and Diego and eagerly responds when asked to join on their adventures.

We have noticed several months back that Thing 1 seems to favor left-handedness but it was too early to be sure then. Nowadays, it is becoming more obvious that she is left-handed. All of us have noticed a few instances where she tries to do something with her right hand only to find it very awkward so she just switches hands immediately.


Thing 2:

Thing 2 continues to be a few pounds behind Thing 1. She has been sick a lot this past month, battling strep throat for a few weeks. But after only being well for 1 week, she contracted the flu. It was a mild flu, but the body soreness she experienced for a few days was unmistakable. The illnesses caused her to lose about 5 lbs.

She talks very clearly and can tell on both her sister and big brother. She loves cuddles and would rather be on our lap when the other 2 are rough-housing.

She hates buildings that look like a doctor's office. We went to the Department of Social Services one day and she let go of my hand and headed for the parking lot as soon as she could see in after I opened the door. Thank goodness she didn't take off on a run!

She loves to ask for things using a very small cute voice. "Mom, can I have milk?", she asks in the morning. Recently, she's also mastered the art of begging. She asks for something and when I don't move fast enough, she holds her hands together and puts them under her chin, closing her eyes, and says "pease, pease! [please]"

She loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! If I can't think of anything to feed her, I could never go wrong with PBJ. She also loves any kind of cereal, much to her brother's annoyance. Curious George absolutely hates any kind of cereal and would run the opposite way from it.

Thing 2 loves to pretend to read. She grabs paper with print on it and "reads" proudly, "A, F, I, B!"

twin playtime

The girls enjoy playing ring around the rosey ever since I taught it to them. They don't know the words, but as soon as anyone sings it, they hold hands and start going in a circle. Thing is though, Thing 1 doesn't want to fall!!



You can hear Daddy in the background giving a very concise description of our lives. :)

Here is Thing 2 lounging in her chair surrounded by books. She loves to look at the books and pretend to identify the letters. Sometimes she points at everything and says, "effffff!"

Here is Thing 1 showing us the proper way to lounge.

curiosity

Curious George and a broken bird house.

Thing 1 lines up her rocks.

Thing 2 finds a feather.

burning off some energy at the mall play area

Thing 1 (in pink) was instantly attracted to the little girl and kept rubbing her back. She did it for a good 5 minutes or so. Thing 2 (in green) was busy walking around. These 2 are hardly in the same area when we take them here. Curious George was here too, he was just too fast to be caught on camera.

Thing 2 played on this bridge/slide. But she couldn't climb all the way to the top, so she backed up and sat down and slid down from the sitting position, giggling "Whoah!"

(While the video is playing, click on the triangle on the right bottom corner of the video and then click on HQ and you can watch the video in high-quality mode, you can see the faces a lot clearer)

Thing 2 was also attracted to this little girl and wanted to play with her but she got distracted when I yelled out for Daddy to catch the little escape artist (Thing 1). Curious George is here in orange, if you catch a glimpse of him.

Daddy commented how I'm starting the girls low rider pants. I had to explain to him that the pants looks low because it was small (size 18 months). I promise to not put these on them again. :-)

It's apparently not bad to be stuck in doors if you have a twin

Daddy is home recuperating from the stomach bug, so he and the girls are home most of the day together. Now, I hope the following pictures doesn't speak of what he's been teaching the girls.

Thing 2 in pink, Thing 1 in blue.

Apparently, it's all good!

Actually, I must mention that all this merry-making came after a big poopie incident this morning. Thing 1 had a major blow out, and this in the heels of having a stomach bug. As you can imagine, it was nasty! Daddy and I had to hose her down in the tub. Too bad we didn't have a tub of bleach because we would have dunked Thing 1 in there and then dove in ourselves!

a family that is silly together has fun together!

He looks like he's imparting some great life lesson to his son. Perhaps he's explaining the wisdom in "turn-taking". Whatever it is, I feel sorry for my boy.

Oi. Really, I'm speechless.


Curious George takes advantage of our front yard's design flaw and has a bit fun going downhill. Notice that the whole time he is making sure I get the whole thing on camera. That's my silly boy!



Thing 1 wanted to get to the Jeep but doesn't want to walk on the dead grass, or should I say dead weeds?!



Together, these 2 can get in a whole lot of trouble.

taking advantage of the warmer weather

It's been so cold the past few weeks, we took advantage when it became warmer. We went outside to have some fun, even if it was cloudy.

Thing 1 in red, Thing 2 in white.

Curious George was busy loading the jeep that the girls took advantage and hopped on in.

Between the girls, they can make the jeep move. One on the steering wheel, the other on the pedal. It was a little scary to be in front of them taking pictures.

Thing 2 joins Daddy on the steps and wants to sit just like him.

And then Thing 1 joins the fun.
(Please pretend you didn't see the Christmas decoration that is still hanging on the front door, because we're doing the same)

What's going on here? Could it be a foreshadowing of Thing 1's teen-age years? Hmmmm.

Thing 1 decides to go down the steps and join Thing 2. These 2 must always have time together.

I want to be in the shot, but what's with Thing 2's face?

it's playtime

Thing 2 is in blue, Thing 1 is in pink.

A friend of Curious George invited us to play with him at the local play area. They have missed each other since the boy stopped going to preschool. It took 2 hours to prepare the lunch, snacks and clothes, but we did make it right on time when the place opened. Due to some careful planning and packing, we managed to stay there a good 3 hours without so much as a tantrum. Yay! Curious George and his friend were off playing, so I all I had to do was to make sure he didn't leave the building, while I kept track of the twins. Daddy finds it interesting when I reported that the twins did not play with each other at all. In fact, they were barely together in one spot. The only reason that they were together a few times was when one found what the other was playing with interesting.

my daughters are going to grow up tomboys

Which is all the more reason to double my efforts in feminizing them. Well, maybe not. I must admit, I don't mind this at all. I grew up not liking to wear dresses and turned out fine. Right? Right? Right.

Thing 2

Thing 1
(She even lays on the floor to play with the tank and the soldier, just like Curious George.)

romp and roll

I thought I'd posted all the pictures from Christmas, but when I checked the memory card on the camera, I found more!

Here are the girls with Nana and Papaw while Daddy and I loaded the mini van to head home after the Christmas weekend.

the twins' 2nd Thanksgiving

The girls had fun at their grandparents' this weekend, though they are still weary of Nana & Papaw. But as long as the grandparents didn't try to pick them up, they were fine. Oh but they did enjoy all the food!

Thing 2 seems to be establishing a Thanksgiving tradition of making this exact same face. She started last year.

She is an expert at giving evil eyes, but she also has an innocent look.

Thing 2 studies the xbox. She wants to be a 'big girl'.

She thinks she's finally mastered it!

And finally conquers the xbox! "Who's your mama!"

Perhaps not. One must always be on a quest for knowledge.

hanging out

Thing 1 in red, Thing 2 in green.

This is why I need to sweep my floor all the time and mop often.

is there anything better than climbing on Daddy on a Sunday afternoon?

We think not. Especially when all Daddy wanted to do was snooze.

(Thing 1 in red, Thing 2 in blue)

nap times

The girls were supposed to be taking a nap, instead I find this. I was hiding the entire time with just my arm and camera sticking out. But they did finally notice me toward the end, at which time they started calling "dadadada". Thing 2 is the one that keeps turning her head. Silly thing. Daddy said, "it must be the lacquer!"

That is baby towels wrapped on one edge of the cribs, since they've been chewing on it. Unfortunately, crib bite guards (if you notice those 2 long pieces on the floor in front on Thing 2's crib, they get pulled up and thrown out regularly) are only for flat/straight edges so I had to come up with a contraption myself. Then one day they were able to pull off the towel and chewed the wood some more (to the point of splintering), hence Daddy's lacquer comment.

In September, Big Brother started preschool 3 times a week instead of everyday. At the time the girls were napping 2 times a day (11am and around 3 pm). With Big Brother napping at 1pm (2 hour nap). The first Tuesday was tough because after the girls woke up from their morning nap, it's time for Big Brother to take his. And when Big Brother woke up, it was the girls' time for their afternoon nap. It was tiring because I never had quiet time for myself. I tweaked the girls' nap time and put them down at 10am for 1 hour nap, and then at 2pm for the afternoon. This allowed me 1 hour of alone time from 2pm to 3pm when Big Brother finally wakes up.

But for the past 2 1/2 weeks, the girls to to sleep at 10am without a problem. At 2pm, when I put them in their cribs, they stay awake for about 1 1/2 hour before falling asleep. I've moved the afternoon nap to 2:30 and then to 3pm, but the same thing happens. For the past 2 days, they don't fall asleep at until close to 5pm!

Today, I decided to start with 1 nap. Instead of napping at 10am, I kept them awake until after lunch at 12pm. They were of course supper sleepy the whole time, but they made it. I was hoping for a 2 hour nap once they finally went down, but to my disappointment, they only napped for 1 hour. I didn't get them out right away hoping they will fall back asleep, but no such luck. It'll be an early bedtime tonight, for sure. Hopefully they transition quickly. It'll be great to have them nap with their big brother on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

weekends are starting to become really fun

The little ducklings are starting to play with each other and it's starting to get quite loud in here. Big Brother is quite good with his sisters. He is conscientious about playing with the both of them and giving them turns. But the girls have other ideas. They both want the same thing and want them now! Case in point, they both want to push Big Brother on the Wiggles car. But Thing 2 is not as adept at taking steps yet so she gets left behind. And when we enforce turn-taking, the other screams her head off. Oi.

techno gears mega marble

Aside from Soccer, what occupied our weekend? Well, there was the Techno Gears Mega Marble that the boy saw at Costco. He actually wanted it more than the big Tonka helicopter (which is now in his Santa list), if you can believe it. I was chosen to be the play buddy for this one, so at 7AM, we woke up bright and early to start assembling it. It took us (me and the boy) 5 hours, until finally I was getting cross-eyed and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong at one point. I called Daddy to finish the rest (it took 1 more hour to finally finish). But both Daddy and I couldn't believe the attention and dedication the boy put into it though.

We also had a new chore chart put into effect. The boy refuses to do things himself (like dressing, going to the bathroom, etc) so after very long planning, we finally have a responsiblity chart to get him motivated (stickers for reward).

Oh, and we also bought a costume. For the past couple of years, we've bought costume days before Halloween and end up scrambling around. This year, we thought it best to buy early. But early isn't always best. Now the boy wants to wear it all day long. I took a picture, but I thought against posting it so that it can be a surprise. But I will say one thing, or maybe 2. Star Wars.

we survived!

The boy was home Thursday since he is now in preschool for 3 days, instead of 5. I had been preparing for this for a couple of weeks and have decided that the best way to go is to loosely follow his class schedule; mainly the nap, snack, outside time. I think the best thing was the outside time since it tuckered him out. I had the girls in the exersaucer on the deck and we blew bubbles. The boy then played with the water guns and then we played soccer. The soccer tired him out, which worked out nicely. When we came in, I put the girls to nap and then asked the boy to play in his room quietly. I told him I wouldn't be able to go up there if he called me because I had to work. He agreed. I was going to get him after 45 minutes, but he came down himself after 40. But that was 40 minutes of quiet bliss for me. :-)

We did craft paper projects, played in the ball tent, and a few other activities. It was tiring for me, but at least there was no tantrums.

Here are the ducklings playing in the ball tent. (Thing 1 in blue, Thing 2 in pink)

some more Memorial Day shananigans

Being the photographer, I rarely have a picture/video of me here...but I will grace you all with my loveliness on this one.



And here is Katie. No, she's not having a fit. She's just happy.