Birthday Surprises!!

The twins' "real" birthday was on this past Monday, so we had a little family celebration that night at home. The morning of their birthday, they woke up to doors that had been decorated with streamers. Fran thinks streamers and party hats are a must for birthdays. I didn't have time to decorate with streamers for the party, so I decided to decorate their doors while they were sleeping the night before their birthday. They liked swishing through the steamers to go in and out.

And just in case you think it's always fun, giggles, and hugs around here at Just the Two of Us, here are some real life, duking it out, fighting pictures in the hallway over the last red balloon from the party. Fran ended up with a punctured leg and bruise from the nightlight she crashed into, but everyone survived.

I had already told the kids there would be a big surprise when we got home from daycare and work that day. They were pretty excited to say the least. We had to do the big reveal as soon as Phil walked in the door from work. If we had waited, I don't think they would have eaten a bite of dinner.

The kids got their very first bicycles this year! A Lightning McQueen bicycle for Rush... complete with a Cars helmet and a Disney Princess bike for her... along with a helmet. They both totally hate the helmets. To be honest, I hate them, too, and we totally survived riding ALL OVER our neighborhood sans helmet on our blue and purple bikes when we were kids, but alas, the times have changed. Helmets will be worn.

We mainly captured the bicycle moment on video, so I only have the picture from "before". I don't have a link to post videos anymore, so I will have to try to figure that out. We put blindfolds on the kids and then brought them out to see the bikes. They were pretty excited. I think I was the most excited. Ha! Fran wanted to ride hers,so we went outside to do that. Rush didn't want to have to wear the helmet, so he refused a bike ride. I was a little disappointed, but he has taken a shine to his bike as the week has gone along. It will take a while to get them really going on it, so we will keep riding!

We finished out the night with homemade pizza (lovingly prepared by Fran...with a little help from me). Then, we had leftover cupcakes from the b-day party! Fun day!

Birthday Fun!!

I have had a hard time finding the time to get to the computer at night since starting back to work. This past week was the first week with the students. A new math program and starting some new things in reading have kept me hopping this week.

I wanted to be sure to post some pictures from the birthday party we had last weekend. This was the first year that the kids have invited a few of their friends to the party. Of course, our sweet Kate was there to celebrate with us! J.R. and Bailey, two friends from daycare were there. We also got to celebrate with Reese and Avery. I teach with their moms, so we get to hang out together during the Summer days that we are all off work. I think being surrounded by family and friends that love you and your kiddos makes every day special, but it is especially fun on a party day!

At the beginning of the party, the kids opened all of their FUN presents from their friends and family. EXCITED is an understatement..especially after the party when they could really get a good look at all of the new toys. The house really did look like Christmas morning! We don't buy lots of toys during the year other than for birthdays and Christmas, so this was major fun!

The kids picked out the color they wanted their cupcakes to be. Rush chose "gween" and Frannie chose "light pink". They were good and SO much easier than cutting a cake. Rush chose to let his friends eat on Toy Story plates (again this year), and SF chose to have princess plates this year.

We decided to have a water party in our backyard. I worried about weather all week. We are having weird August weather. It has been rainy and on some days, we have had Fall-like coolness. The party was at the end of RAINY week. I was nervous because our inside plan was.... well... there wasn't an inside plan. I don't really have enough room to entertain seven little ones inside. So, I was thankful when the rain stayed away. It was overcast which ended up being a good thing. The adults could sit outside without having to sweat uncontrollably which would have been the normal August plan. (I need to give a shout out to Aunt Ivy here. Not only did she bring all of her 'water stuff' from her house to add to the party fun, but she came over early and helped get the backyard set up for the party. We could NOT have pulled it off without her. She really kinda saved the day. I love my sister! My friend Kristen and my Mama were also the photographer and videographer for the party. It was fun to have someone else in charge of that so we could just enjoy! Thanks to all of you!)

We had a Slip and Slide, two pools, a water pad (Thanks, Aunt Ivy), a water table, and water balloons. We also had water guns, water blasters, and bubbles. The kids ran around and seemed to have a great time. They even decided to get after the adults with the water guns and a few splashes here and there!

I think it was lots of fun!!

Frannie opened her presents first...

Then, Rush opened his presents...

Then, we "Happy Birthday-ed" both of them. I had to help both of them blow out their candles. I think we need to work on lung strength! Ha!

Eating and playing before we went outside...

OUTSIDE FUN!!!

So much fun!! I will be back tomorrow with a post from their "real" birthday! We had big surprises for them on that day!

Happy 4th Birthday!!

Happy FOURTH Birthday to my sweet "babies"! I can't believe they are FOUR years old today! I will be back soon with a full post on all of the fun birthday festivities!

Random Sunday Evening Cuteness

I don't have much to say tonight except I have to work tomorrow.. and I'm still getting used to the idea. So, I am posting random pictures from the last couple of weeks. I logged on to the blog to add my friend, Amy, to the blogs I read list. She just started up, and I don't want to miss reading about her little cutie pie, Will! :-)

Fran likes to get out her Fisher Price Doctor Kit and work on anyone that will sit still long enough to be prodded and poked. She frequently consults her "Book of Home Remedies" as all good doctors will do from time to time. I think most of them wear Disney Princess gardening gloves as they do their jobs, too.

Fran said, "We are playing cars together nicely, Mama. Don't you want to take our picture?" Ummmm... someone has grown up with a camera in her face, but I won't name names. :-)

Done!

Yes, this is my second post today. I am pretty sure that has NEVER happened. I felt like I had to get today's date on this post, or you might not have believed me. I set a goal for myself to finish both of the kids' rooms before the end of the summer. And I DID it!! It totally does not matter that I completed Fran's room today. The last day of summer. The Last. She liked it. When I brought her in to show her everything I had finished, she got her shy smile on her face. That means she really liked it. I'm no interior designer for sure, but if it makes my girl smile, it works for us. :-)

Voila!

P.S. The bed and dresser belonged to me when I was a little girl.
P.P.S. I had to work really hard to take the picture of the dresser without taking a picture of myself taking the picture in the mirror.

Goodbye, Summer!

Enjoying Pop-tarts on the balcony at the beach


I asked the kiddos last night about their favorite summer memory. Both of them said that "the beach" was their favorite. I think it may have been the Pop-tarts every morning for breakfast that sealed the deal since those only show up in our pantry on occasion. Rush also said that he liked going to the McWane Center the same as the beach. We are saying goodbye to summer today because I am returning to work tomorrow. Summer has gone by rather quickly, but I can say without hesitation that we have really enjoyed ourselves this year.

This year has been a BIG ONE at the pool because both kids have learned to swim without the help of any kind of float. We started the summer firmly in their Puddle Jumpers. Now, they don't really need those at all. I had enough confidence to let them both take off their floats at the same time today when we were there. They did such a great job! I am proud of them.

We have had lots of fun times with family and friends, and I am glad that I have the opportunity to be at home with them for a few months every year. I am going to really miss our early morning snuggle time and days that were free to be planned as we pleased... or not planned at all.


And guess what else they started doing this week? Sleeping late...

Just in time for me to have to start WAKING them at 6:20 every morning. :-)

If it's Captain Hook? Forget it.

Frannie had a really bad dream the other night, and she is having some trouble moving on from it. There was a dancing snail beside her bed. Mar (her favorite doll) turned blue. There was a scary hot dog. You get the drift. This was on Monday night, and she talked about it all day on Tuesday. It may have been her first "scary" dream that she can remember because she has never really mentioned dreams before. She mentioned for the next couple of nights that she was scared.

Rush was so sweet to her. I am going to try to type it in his four year old speech so you can "hear" how cute he sounded saying it. He still doesn't say his "r's" or "l's", but we are all used it and can usually understand him.

SF: I am going to be scared when I go to sleep tonight. I will have another bad dream. That snail was dancing by my bed, but it was not a nice snail. I will be scared. I will be scared. Mama, I will be scared and I don't want to be scared. It will be dark and I will be scared. (Insert more ongoing dramatic "I'm scared" speech here...)

Rush: Teeta, you do not need to be scared. If you get scared, I will come into your woom (room). I will get you and you can come into my woom wif me. You can sweep (sleep) in my woom wif me. So you will not be scared.

I was thinking to myself... Awwwwwww!!!! That is the sweetest thing ever. I told Rush he was a good and sweet brother to her. We talked about how sweet and brave that is of him to want to protect her. Then, I reassured Fran that she would be fine. Think happy thoughts before you go to sleep to help you have good dreams, etc.

Then, Phil went in to say goodnight to them both. They were each in their own rooms at this point. Rush then told Phil the exact same thing from above. With only a slight addition. Apparently, he had been thinking about being such a great brother and all the bravery that required on his part. He told Phil that he would take care of her if she got scared and that she could come into his room if she was scared.

Then, he stuck his little finger into the air and said, "Unwess she dweams about Captain Hook. Den, I can not help her. I am afwaid of him, too."

(Unless she dreams about Captain Hook. Then, I can not help her. I am afraid of him, too.... Just in case you don't do preschool-speak.)

We laughed. I had to write this one down. I didn't want to forget it.

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