Chip!

Last week, I made sloppy joes and served them with green beans and potato chips.  I love this dish because it's a homemade recipe that everyone likes and it's the perfect excuse to open a bag of kettle chips.  However, I made the grievous error of actually placing potato chips on the plates at the beginning of the meal - with the sandwich and vegetables, the way a normal person might choose to plate a meal.

N, my little eater, is quite good at picking up table manners, surprisingly.  He wasn't so much in the beginning:

March 2010: avacado!

He everything equally: some meat, some bread, a chip, some veggies, drink of milk, start again...basically.

M is a bit more...shall we say...focused?

He ate one chip, two chips, three chips, then...
"Chip?
"Eat your joe and your green beans first," we replied.
"Mo?  Mo chip?"
"No, eat your sloppy joe and drink your milk," we repeated.
"Mo chip? Chip? Chip? Chip? Chip? Chip? Mo chip?"
We ignore this, and praise N for eating his sandwich and green beans.
"CHIP?  CHIP?!"  Here is where he decided that we most certainly ARE deaf and resorts to the sign language that I taught him last year, repeating louder and with the "more" sign:
"MO CHIP?  PEEESE?  MO CHIP?!  MO CHIP?!  PEEESE!!"

Here's where I have a flashback of a lactation consultant helping me with nursing twins say (about M, of course), "He's escalating."  No kidding, Sherlock.

"CHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIP!!!!!PEEAASE?!CHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPS"

Hubs and I make eye contact across the table, and we smirk.  This is actually getting quite funny because we both know that we cannot back down now, that we cannot give him a chip and therefore teach him that this is the way to behave to get what you want.
"CHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIP!!!!!PEEAASE?!CHIPCHIPCHIPCHIPCHIP!!!!!"

"Okay, you're done.  You're going to time out." One of us gets up to wipe off his hands and end his meal.

And what did he find under the sandwich at just that moment?

A chip.  One lonely chip.

M gobbled it and with his mouth full and smiling said, "Chip!"

I love chips!

 

"You've Got a Friend in Me"

The boys' first warm outdoor afternoon two weeks ago.  They LOVE their new backyard and were missing it terribly today!

Weee Ooooh Weee Ooooh!

Pick up a plastic egg, pop the jellybean in your mouth, toss shell aside, repeat as fast as possible.  That was how our Easter egg hunt in the backyard went yesterday.  It lasted all of about 7 minutes, until we heard

"AaaaaOOOOOOgaaahhhh!"

There was a 1930's era fire engine going down our street, filled with kids in the back.

No kidding!

So we stopped our egg hunt - it was over, anyway, and went to introduce ourselves to our new neighbor.  Who just so happens to own the very same engine!  Who hurried the four of us aboard as he loaded up another batch of grandkids.

We'd literally said only hello and told them our names before we were swept away on an Easter afternoon fire engine ride!  Hubs and I were holding onto the fellas for dear life, laughing, and shaking our heads.  What just happened?  Who is this guy driving us around the block?  Is this thing road-worthy?  Oh, well, his grandkids are back here with us, so it must be safe, right?

The Easter Bunny in our new town drives a fire engine!

Welcome Home

I'm back online finally!  We've learned that the house is wired so that I can only have my computer in one of two places: Hubs' office or the kitchen counter.  So now that we've moved in together (hee, hee) and split wires, I have my desktop dinosaur back up and running!  The flip side is that I'll only have access to it when the boys are sleeping.  That's not all bad - if I didn't have enough to keep me busy before, I certainly do now with more rooms to clean!

Astonishingly, we are closing in on two weeks in our new house.  Here we are opening the door with the boys the first day:

We had lots of friends and some family on hand to help us with the move.  A thousand thanks to you all for your love and muscles!  We couldn't have done it without you. 

The playroom is currently my favorite room in the house!  The weather has been pretty chilly since we got here, so we've been spending our hours down in the basement.  Above, you'll see my sons demonstrating how to play quietly and individually!  It doesn't last long, but it's heavenly while it does! 

We did have one nice day, and since they tasted the freedom of the backyard, they've been begging to go "oussigh?"  The cozy coupes arrived safely and will be well loved again this year.

We are going to go with a "rocketship" theme in the boys' room because this is what their bedroom has!  A giant hand-painted rocket!  There are stars, too, and a smaller one on another wall.  Of course we chose this room for them and I can't wait to put the rest of it together. 

There is so much more to tell you and so many stories of the boys and how they love exploring their new house and how they are finding so much trouble together!  But first,I wanted to send you a couple of pics and a little love to tell you that we are alive and well and enjoying the blessing of our new house together.

We're here!

We are spending night no.6 in our new house and are loving every minute! Still no internet for my desktop so I'm writing from hubs' cell phone to let you all know we made it and are very happy. Special thanks to our friends who gave up their Sunday afternoons last week to lift the furniture. I felt like a queen standing at the back of the truck giving marching orders! Her, her! In all seriousness, though, we are grateful for you.

M and N were loving the new house and their yard until the temp dropped and the snow fell. Despite the new playroom, they've been none too happy about being indoors. They got a taste of freedom (a backyard) and want more! It could also be there's nothing to watch but DVD's inside, too. What? No Yo Gabba Gabba? No, boys. He retired.

The boys are talking up a storm! M will repeat anything and I mean anything! You say. He's even begun to say thank you! If you prompt N to say thank you he says, "saayyyy!"which of course cracks us up!

I'll get you some pictures as soon as the Internet is hooked up here. Enjoy the snow!

The Move is on!

It was never off, but now that we have a renter for our townhouse, it feels quite real!  I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about the possibility of paying on two places.  And God is so good - the renter is a non-pet, non-smoking guy, two things that we were praying for as well.  We are praying that the peace and grace of God will remain in our house and bless this man many times over, like He has been with us for 6 years here. 

Most of the packing is finished - all that's left is to toss the items we're using this week into a box.  It's crazy surreal and a bit nostagically weird to be leaving our beloved little townhouse, the first place Hubs and I bought together, where we've spent 2/3 of our almost 9 years (yipes!  I remember when I thought that was a looooooooong time!) of marriage, and where we brought our treasures home.

Before children, it looked like this!

So this may be my last entry until sometime next week.  We've got a LOT to do the next few days.  To those of you who have helped and will be helping with The Move: unending thanks and love.  To those of you who are with us in hearts and spirit: many blessings to you. 

Triple Time

I couldn't resist sharing this video with you: another MVMOM posted this on her blog - it's a video from a member of a National Triplets group of feeding newborn triplets.  While we have "just" twins, I can testify that this is very accurate!  Enjoy!

Payday!

A stay at home mom never knows when her payday is coming, especially a stay at home mom of twin tunas.  I say "tunas," because trying to snuggle with one of my 22 month old dynamo boys is like trying to hug a tuna fish - a giant, live, writhing tuna fish just out of the sea.

See, me and my tuna fish! 

Bwahahahahahaha!  I love Google Images, don't you?  Seriously, if that WAS me and my tuna fish.....I'd wear a bikini year round!   I was trying to find a funny picture of a tuna fish and when I saw that, I just couldn't resist!  Because that could've been me, 10 years ago! Okay, what was I saying?  Ah, well...children, yes...the boys.

This morning the tunas woke up around 7:45 (glorious!  Hallelujah #1!), and N lifted his arms to me to be picked up.  Then he snuggled his little goldilocks head into my shoulder, so I sat down and rocked him like that for 10 MINUTES!!!  He didn't move, and, here's the miraculous part: M didn't holler with jealousy!  M rolled around in his crib, sucking on keebie and talking to his teddy bear.

Cha-ching!  THANK YOU, GOD! was my first thought.  (Hallelujah #2!) This is why I stay home, was my second thought.  I naively thought that stay at home moms spent DAYS doing this sort of snuggling - years ago.  Boy was I wrong, on that and many other accounts! 

Then, as if I couldn't ask for more...BOTH boys ate their entire breakfast (1 frozen waffe and 1 yogurt tube)! This is a huge victory in the meals department this week.

So, yeah, today is freaking wonderful and it's just 10:00 am.  I know that's a little early to be claiming victory, but I've got a playdate scheduled with a good friend and sunny 50-degree weather on tap for the rest of the day.  Add to that I totally scored a $40 train table (with trains!) on Craigslist!

That's not to mention all my other blessings going on in my life everyday.  I am the most blessed woman in the world.  Thank you, God, for paydays like today.

The real me and Tuna N

Cute Kid

If you stand on your head, you will see my adorable little boy and handsome Hubs petting a 4 day old goat kid at the MN Zoo on Sunday.  For the life of me, I can't get the picture to flip.  I can only assume I was holding the camera upside down?  When stuff like this happens, I can only say, well, self, if this is as bad as it gets today, you're doing pretty darn good!

The (Mostly) Cute Things They Do

Please excuse the lack of photos.  Packing house does not lend itself well to...chargers, for example.

• Learn how gravity works: for example, if you push your Cozy Coupe car up to the top of the driveway then get it and patter a few steps Flinstones-style, gravity will take you all the way to the bottom!  This is outrageously fun, but something we'll have to put the kabosh on next week, since then the driveway will end in a REAL road.
• Say "please,": Whining, yelling, and the like ensue for the desired item, then we remind them to say please.  They will stop and politely say, "please," after which we usually give them the item...not sure if that's the greatest parenting method, but it works - kind of.
• Ask for a diaper change: M will usually squat, grunt, and say, "poo-poo," calling out for anyone willing to change him, but N is more sly.  He hides while doing the deed, unnoticed, then crawls up into your lap with a toy or a book.  The "victim" is happy to cuddly with cutie pie, then a whiff wafts up to his/her nose as if to say, "I chose YOU for this diaper change."
• Alert us to reversing vehicles: we live on a dead-end drive so the garbage truck backs in every Friday going "Beep-beep-beep," as well as a certain Tonka truck toy that says, "Beep-beep-backing-up-backing-up!"  One day out of nowhere, M said, "Beep-beep!" when I put the van in reverse!  Now they both do it...EVERY TIME.
• Read the Bible: every night we read from an Illustrated Children's Bible which stays in their room.  They say, "Bi-bo! Bi-bo!" and bring the HUGE hardcover to us to read it.  N is especially in love with it and we often find him "reading" it alone in his room.  It melts my heart, especially when he points to an illustration and says, "Jee" (Jesus).
• Open doors: I know they've gained a couple inches because now they can reach doorknobs previously inaccessible.  So twice N has escaped out the garage!  Now I have to turn the lock while putting on my and M's shoes and have locked Hubs out of the house this way.
• Learn their colors: M is "blue" and N is "green" and we have coordinated many things this way, but sippy cups in particular is a big deal suddenly.  I CANNOT give a boy the wrong color cup or will hear "bro-bro-jew," "bro-bro-mewk" (brother's juice/milk) endlessly.  Seemingly, this does not apply if THEY share or steal with each other - only if I give them the "wrong" color.
• Identify each other: we look at photo books of ourselves and family members often.  They can identify all of their grandparents and aunts and most of their cousins (mostly) accurately.  They can identify each other with "bro-bro," or sometimes, "Nay-Nay," but they can't identify themselves! 

They do a thousand other adorable (and less so) things, but we're off to deliver some brownies to some very special people.

(A few hours later.....) The brownie delivery went well!  The boys LOVE going to visit Daddy at his office, and his co-workers (say they) love to have us visit, despite that it's really me and Hubs chasing and retrieving them through a labyrinth of cubicles.  The guys really worked it, batting those big blue eyes and giving high-fives and getting, in return, brownie bites!  I thought of a couple more while driving this morning:

• Identifying animals: At the zoo yesterday, N said, "eee-eee-eee-oooh-oooh-oooh-aaah-aaah-aah!" when we approached the monkey exhibit. M pointed to an enormous pig and said, "Big pig night night!"  By the way, Farm Babies are at the zoo during the month of April and are ADORABLE! 

• Go to bed: They kiss us and each other good night with puckered lips and a big "moowah!"

We're Expecting!

To move in just 9 days!  Yippee! 

What?  You thought....? 

Honestly? 

Really?!  You thought that?

You must not know...it's April Fool's Day!