The Rest of the Stuff I Should Have Blogged About Already

We reserved our neighborhood's pavilion and pool this year for the twins' birthday party. We had lots of fun! I have lots of pictures that I didn't post, but I wanted to do the highlights! All of the kids were so sweet and played well together. We had cupcakes, chips, fruit, and juice boxes. Pretty easy stuff! So, while I was a bit frazzled a few times, I wasn't stressed out. I was able to enjoy the kids, watch them swim, and talk to the grown-ups. (We hired a lifeguard to help cut down on some of the stress. Good call, Phil!) It was a great way to celebrate turning FIVE!! How are they FIVE?

On their real birthday, we had so much fun having our family party at home. It was just the four of us, but we had homemade pizza and cake and ice cream. I made them each their own cake. From a mix.. don't get too carried away, now. This was quite a feat for me to accomplish. I am not a "baker". Love to cook, but I don't deal well with things that require you to be precise and exact with measurement. They didn't stick to the pan. That was huge. Rush's cake was yellow cake with GREEEEN icing! It took almost a whole bottle of food coloring to get it to be anything other than minty green. Her cake was chocolate with yellow icing and orange sprinkles. She had me add some blue sprinkles, too, at the last minute.

We ate lots of pizza, cake, and ice cream. We also enjoyed playing with the new karaoke machine. (Phil's idea.. not mine.) It was hilarious, though. Sing the words to "Life is a Highway". Now, sing again, except every time there is an "L" or "r" replace it with a "w". Wife is a highway, I wanta wide it all night wong." We were rolling with laughter. AS much as I want Rush's speech to develop correctly, I think I may miss it when he makes these last few corrections. I may cry the first time he says, "I Love you, Mooooom". I may miss the "wuv". :-)




As for the fall, we have been extremely busy!! I am a little overwhelmed by our schedule in general right now. Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Not sure yet. Could just be the beginning of a new school year! I am hoping things settle down a bit. Rush started his first "organized" activity. He is taking Tae Kwon Do. He has already earned two stripes on his belt. He had to say a "pledge" to get the first stripe. He got the second one for doing six front punches, six front kicks, and six head blocks. It is really cute to watch them! He has to do the "stuff" to get his stripes by himself in front of his classmates and all of the parents. I think it is pretty brave. He struggled for the first two classes. (There were tears and I had flashbacks to soccer camp.) After that, he was fine and he asks to go! Yay! Here he is in all his cuteness!


I feel behind in many areas of my life right now, but blogging is no longer one of them. That is what we have been doing. We are headed to our good buddy's birthday party this afternoon! It is a beautiful day!

First Day of School

I am going to just type this post as if the first day of school just passed and only a small amount of time has passed rather than the weeks that are actually the case. I have a list of legitimate excuses for why I haven't posted. And all of them start with "work". So, anyway. I am back.

My two babies headed of to Pre-K on August 19, 2013. It felt so strange to leave them that morning to go to work, but they were both grinning and so excited, so I didn't even really feel sad. I felt excited for them. Phil dropped them off at school and said that they both did GREAT! There were no tears! And I can add now that a few weeks have passed that they are continuing to L-O-V-E school! They love to tell us all that they have learned. They have Pre-K in the morning, and their teacher is phenomenal. You know how some people are just meant to do something in life? Teaching Pre-K is obviously her gift. She is so wonderful with the kids. From what I can tell, they are both being sweet and listening. If you don't listen and obey, you have to change your apple from red to green. And then if you still don't listen, it goes to yellow. And then, if you STILL aren't a listener, you have to go to a yucky brown apple. Think listening is an issue in Pre-K? Sydney Frances has assured me that neither of them have had to change their apple at all. If you want to know the name of anyone that has moved his/her apple, let me know. I get a full report each day. Guess which twin gives that report?

They seem to be making new friends. I am glad to hear that they are branching out a bit. Sydney Frances talks about her best friend "Cambold". Her name is actually Campbell, but don't try to tell Fran that. She is certain that she is correct. They both talk about Lucas a lot, so I think he is a mutual buddy.

Sydney Frances loves to sing all of the songs they sing in music. She started singing one the other day that sounded interesting. Here are the words (as she sang them):

Sydney Frances: "Who's that hiney underneath the table? Who's that hiney underneath the table? Who's that hiney underneath the table? Come out and tell us your name!"

Me: Huh? Where did you learn that song?

Sydney Frances: In music. So we could learn everybody's name. One person at a time gets to go under the table. Then you get to come out and say your name.

Me: Oh, I bet the words are "Who's that HIDING underneath the table?"

Sydney Frances: No, Mama. It's "Who's that hiney underneath the table?"

Me: I'm pretty sure it is "hiding" because you are hiding underneath the table until it is time to come out and say your name.

Sydney Frances: Well, it's not, Mama.

Me: Alright then.

I totally had her sing it at least five more times just so I could secretly laugh to myself. What will I do with this child? Never a dull moment with Pre-K to attend every day!

I look forward to the new stories and excitement every afternoon when I pick them up. A few pictures from the first day...
a

We have had a few other firsts that I plan to share soon. I will also post about their fifth birthday... soon. Yes, soon. For now, it is off to bed for me!