School Days

The boys are loving their new class, Terrific Two's!  Aunt L is with us here this week, so, OF COURSE we have pictures of their Monday Morning class.  Thanks, Aunt L - you're a great photographer.

N and M bedeck themselves with the jewlery, then thread beads

N LOVES the activity table - colored popcorn was this week's media

Wee!

Pop! Pop! Pop!

They are learning to wash their hands themselves in this class - yay!

N doing art - I wonder what he'll call this piece?

Aren't I a pretty kitty?

Mommy lends a hand

Pizza Party

I had a brilliant idea to let the boys help make pizzas for dinner because, theoretically, kids will eat food they help prepare.  It started out great!  The boys had a lot of fun

N spreads the sauce on ours

M spreads the sauce on theirs

N's photo of M sprinkling cheese - it's pretty good!

N tests the pepperonis before adding them...ick.

The making of the pizzas was fun!  Even the watching  of the pizzas in the oven was fun.  The actual eating of the pizzas?  No, thanks.  We barely got them to taste one slice! 

Maybe it's because M burned his finger on the stone and insisted on wearing these all night afterward.

And then I turned 34 yesterday.  Here's my birthday snuggles with my little boys last night.  They love this book, "My Little Train," and ask for it every night.  They know all the words.  Here, they are shouting, "To my pocket!  To my pocket!" which is where the little kangaroo wants to be dropped off by the train.  They are so fun (when they're not testing my patience)!

Orchard Apples

We told the boys we were going to the apple orchard after dinner, and M repeated a thousand times, "Orchard Apples?  Orchard Apples? Go to Orchard Apples?"  It's actually called Fireside Orchards, and it's adorable!  We wanted to find a new orchard nearer to our home, and we love "our" new one, even though they've been around 40 years!...because they MAKE apple cider donuts where you can watch the batter drop into the hot oil and puff up as they float along the little oil river to their bath of sugar, temporary home of a white paper bag, then their ultimate demise: my stomach.  I had to share with the others, though.  They made me. 

They sell other awesome apple-y stuff, too, so we picked up some Cortlands for applesauce (I learned how to make it the crock pot - SO DELICIOUS!  Who knew applesauce was so yummy?) and Honeycrisp for snacking.  It was difficult but we passed on the pies, fudge and HUGE array of canned and jarred goods - this weekend.

Then we strolled through the gardens and took a walk through the orchard with the fellas. 

Always taking care of each other

N looking pretty guilty - he picked ONE apple from a forbidden tree, and we got caught!  (Sound familiar?)

Aunt L and her nephews

Having twins is like a walk in an orchard

Best part of the orchard by far!  N drives the antique tractor

Outta the way!  M at the wheel of the John Deere!

Another awesome toy - a VERY LOUD bell to ring over and over and over...

We'll see you again, soon, Fireside Orchards! 

NOT a rock star, just a regular MOM

Everywhere I go with the boys, I'm treated a bit like a rock star.
Are they twins?  Wow.......
You nursed them for how long?

How do you do it? 
I couldn't even imagine having two!


Everywhere, that is, except MVMOM, my multiples' club.  There, I'm no one special.  I have "only" my twins, no additional singletons, no multiple sets of multiples, no special needs - in fact, I have it easy compared to my colleagues! 

On Saturday, I worked our bi-annual Used Clothing and Equipment Sale, our humongous fundraiser where we all sell our stuff and buy "new" stuff from each other.  It's open to the public, too, so you should check it out next spring.  It's fun and furious! 

The women who are part of the club are supermoms.  Seriously, I don't know how THEY do it!  For example, the woman who cashiered to my right for three hours has two sets of identical twin girls (5 and 2).  She's incredible.  Our vice-president, who worked behind me all morning, has quintuplet boys, three of whom have special needs (age 7).  One of our members, whom I'd never met and checked out at my cashier station, has five sons - one singleton and two sets of twins!  Her youngest are two, and when she noticed my nametag (for it displays your childrens' names and birth years) also had two year old boys, she asked, "Are yours crazy?"

"They're very very busy!"  (I try not to use the word crazy because I don't want it to stick - or for them to get any ideas!)

"Mine were eating my organic raw eggs out the fridge the other day!"  she exclaimed.

Gulp, maybe mine aren't crazy.  "Mine got into the fridge, too - they ate a bunch of grapes." Grapes?  That's the best you could come up with?

At the end of our shift, my cashiering neighbor and I were in the breakroom, and she was discussing the delicate situation that I hope never to be in - announcing your second twin pregnancy to your families - with yet ANOTHER multiple multiples mom!  Both women expressed disappointment when their families were less than enthusiastic. 

I also had the privilege of chatting with a new twin-mom-to-be, a pregnant member I met this summer.  She was just 8 weeks along and had learned three days before we met that she was expecting twins.  I was able to share with her what an incredible club I belonged to and she joined!  I'm so happy to have a connection with her - and very excited that she'll share in the joys of boys with me.  Now she's 20 weeks along with her guys and doing well.

Needless to say, every time I gather with these mighty women, I am humbled and awed by their strength and fortitude.  And reminded that I am NOT a rock star, I'm just a regular MOM.

Gotcha!

Two nights ago, it was very quiet, and not because the boys were sleeping.  They were missing. 

Okay, they weren't GONE, nor were they where I'd left them while I attempted housework.  And I couldn't hear anything, either.

Are all the doors locked?  I wondered.  Yes, but N has learned how to undo the deadbolt in the mudroom.  However, he can't reach the garage door opener or open the van door (that I'm aware of, that is) so the furthest he could be is getting into Daddy's tools or other dangerous garage items.

Are they in my bathroom, unrolling the toilet paper?  Splashing in the toilet?  No, I'd hear that.

They were in the kitchen (on my freshly mopped floor!) stuffing grapes into their faces as quickly as they could, lest they get caught and Mean Mommy takes the grapes away!

 
 So I let them.  For heaven's sakes, they were hungry!  And of course they were, because they'd refused most of their dinner.  We ate grapes on the floor, then changed into new fall pj's and brought out the snuggle blankets to watch a "movie" before bed, which turned out to be just one episode of Imagination Movers, but they loved it!

Naptime

Two little monkeys jumping on their beds
One filled his drawers
The other got naked.

One tired mama sitting in the chair
So the monkeys stay put.

First Day of School!

It finally arrived, the eagerly anticipated first day of school!  We were in a big rush to get out the door, so I didn't get a cute little pic of them standing next to the door like I'd planned.  What goes like I plan, though? The class starts at 8:30, so I had to wake up N (early bird M was up at 7) at 7:30, which did NOT go well.  Ok, the dressing and eating did not go well.  Guess I should take notes from those experienced moms who do practice mornings before school starts.  Nah, that would be even crazier!  Fortunately, Hubs was here to be "action chugger" and get the boys to eat their frozen chocolate chip waffles and dress the flailing baby alligator for me.  Thanks, honey.

We are in a new school district, so everything was new for me today, too.  New building, new teachers, new classroom - yes, I missed the "meet the teacher" day last week, which would have been useful because I parked at the wrong side of the building and walked through the entire senior center and community center wings before reaching the 'youth' wing!

M and N, above, are playing with flaxseed.  N LOVES this activity table and spent much of the morning pouring the flaxseed into the cone which made the paddlewheel spin.  So that's it, our official first day of school picture.  As a "new" parent today, I didn't feel very comfortable taking a dozen pictures right away on the first day, but I'll try to take more in the future.

And of the 12 or so kids in the class, there's only ONE girl!  Apparently, there will be another next week since someone was ill today, but it looks like there was something in the water 2 years ago.  Their class is nearly all boys!  And two of them are ALSO fraternal twin brothers.  I'm so happy to have run into yet another twin boy mom in my new town.  There's just something about having other twin mom friends that makes my weirdness more normal. 

I'm also happy to be starting our fall schedule.  Summer is great for the first two months, but I guess I'm not the supermom I thought I was because I LOVE that school is back in session!  Know what's also back in session?  Signing up for snacks!  My calendar is already filling up with food dates, and as a matter of fact, I need to assemble an egg bake today because my church's Mom's Group starts tomorrow and - you guessed it - I have to take a dish to pass. 

But I love the first day of school, even though now it looks different than it used to - you know, flaxseed, eggbakes, and long walks through the senior center.

Where's Papa?

"Don't touch the trains" at Choo-Choo Bob's!  Not the model trains, anyhow.

At Blue Door Pub in St. Paul, featured on the Food Network last month.  Guy Fieri was right - the Blucy's are delicious!

He went home to Michigan.
Where's Grandma?
She went home to Michigan.
Where's Daddy?
He's working in Miami.
Where's brudder?
He's right next to you, silly!

The fellas aren't quite into the "why" stage yet, but they are definently into "What's that?"  "Where's this?" and "I want more ______!" which basically sums up our entire lunchtime conversation today.  The guys are reminiscing about our fun weekend with my parents, occasionally saying, "Don't touch the trains!" because they were grabbing the model trains off the tracks at Choo Choo Bob's, and "pet the piggie oink! oink!" because we visited the birthing barn at the fair, and "I want donuts!" because we bought apples and apple donuts at the orchard yesterday. 

Our visitors have gone home, Daddy's gone to work, even the neighbor kids have returned to school and it's me and the guys today, cleaning house and doing laundry.  I get a little sappy on the first day of school, when my teacher friends go back to work and my mommy friends send their children off to school and enjoy an entire day of SILENCE.  Honestly, I'm envious.  Do you KNOW how much housework I could (theoretically) get done in 6 hours?! Only three years until I have a clean house - when I send them off to kindergarden.

But how can I complain?  I had coffee, a sunny morning, and two busy boys completely occupied by their red cozy coupes this morning.  Best of all, the mosquitoes are gone!  There was an occasional argument over whose rock was whose, since they were filling the cars with landscaping rocks and leaves in order to transport said items to a different area of the yard, but who cares?  Well, Daddy does, but they are entertained for hours doing this, so I don't stop them. 

Sharky's been put away and fall has officially begun.  I'm off to fold laundry and start packing the boys' summer clothes away and creating an inventory of fall clothes so I know what I need to buy at the MVMOM sale in two weeks.  Hurray fall!

Minnesota State Fair Fun!

Boy oh boy are we having a good time with Grandma and Papa this weekend!  I'm just going to put up a couple of State Fair pics right now, though, because today was a blast!  Hubs and I started going when we moved here in '04 and made it a 'family tradition,' which we've missed for two years now, so it was extra special today.  I haven't had my Dairy Barn ice cream in three years - yikes!  Here are some highlights:

We started the morning off right - with N's first ever fried cheese curd.

More cheese!  More cheese!  M was begging until they were all gone.

Mom and Dad with Hubs and the guys, also enjoying their first fried cheese curds - at 10:30 am!

We went straight to the Miracle of Life barn, where the baby animals are on display.

M was trying to catch the piglet's tail!

Our cute little piglets!

For lunch, what's better than a corn dog? N didn't like sharing it.

M was in HEAVEN driving the tractors on machinery hill!  We could've stayed there all day.

They didn't like sharing tractors much, either, but we made them.

A great place to relax - the lactation station, where we changed diapers and just lounged around, playing with the toys set out for the older siblings.  Who cares that no one was lactating?

Farmer N collects his eggs at the Little Farm Hands display.

Noshing on Sweet Martha's Cookies and 1919 rootbeer before heading out

Me my little piggie at home

What we didn't take a photo of, but should have, was the big bus we rode from the park and ride.  To the delight of our fellow riders, we sang "The Wheels on the Bus," all the way there and back - the guys were just thrilled to actually see and touch wheels of a bus and then ride on it!  They talked about it all the way home.  We'll be talking about their first trip to the Minnesota State Fair for years to come - or one, until we go back next year.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend, as a kid, meant going back to school on Tiesday. (the letter after "t" does not work on my iPhone). Since I chose a profession in teaching, it meant going back to work. Now, I'm a stay at home mom of two year old twin boys and it means returning to the fall scedule: back to school, in other words! More than ever, I know why moms love school so much, despite mine being only two.

Soon, the boys and I will attend ECFE, where they play with other two year olds while the other parents and I attend class together. Even though it's a new clas, we don't have any first day jitters- only excitement for a separating class. We'll also be going back to my chirch's Mom's Groyp once a week, another welcome break to talk to real, sane adults while the boys play in the nursery.

Those two 90 minute events each week keep me sane, and whenwe need another activity, we can pop into the library's toddler storytime, which has also been on hiatus.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Jine, Jly and the first half of Aigist(seioisly too many you) the last two weeks are just crawling by? I think many moms of school aged children feel tis way, bit am I the only toddler mom looking forward to "school" starting?

We do have some fn planned with parents, visiting MNfor the first time since the fellas were born: the state fair, the zoo, and maybe even choochoo bob's train store. So things are lookng good for smmer's last hurra, then school starts. I can't wait. :)