Happy Halloween!!

May the force be with you...

October Fun... So far!

October has been busy!! We have been having fun, though! Here are some pics of the fun-ness so far! 

First up... We had to turn pumpkins into something for the Fall Festival at the kids' school. We found some bright blue scrap fabric at Walmart and the idea for Thing 1 and Thing 2 pumpkins was born. The kids did all of the painting, and Phil and I added some of the details. To have a really uncrafty Mama, I thought their pumpkins were really cute!! Stuff like that normally stresses me out, but we had fun! 😄 

We also went to the Pumpkin Patch last weekend. The kids held bunnies, rode horses, picked pumpkins, and did the hayride. They also jumped in the little bouncy house things. Their favorite part? Riding the Thomas the Train... because they got to ride by themselves! Big kids, I tell ya! 

Fran liked petting the rabbits... but sitting in her lap? I think the expression says it all. Ha! 

Still have an Auburn game, Halloween carnival, and trick or treating to go! More to come! 

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...
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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!

School Days

Most of you already know that we have decided to let Rush and Sydney wait a year before starting kindergarten. They are turning five next Tuesday (more on that in another post), but we are excited that they are going to have a year of pre-k before they start "big school". We think it is going to be a great fit for them this year. Phil and I went for the parent orientation last week, and we are so excited about all of the fun stuff they are going to be doing! And I LOVE their teacher! Love her! Of course, I am a teary-eyed Mama a lot of the time. I get that from my Daddy. I get all teary and my throat gets tight when I think about them with their little pre-k tote bags and lunch boxes on the first day. Can't help it. They will be OK, I know, but I STRUGGLE with thinking of them at school in a place I don't know all about. I can't believe I ever considered separate classes for them. They will be together, and I am so glad! Of course, I also worry about them touching the public toilet seat and putting their mouths on the water fountain. So, let's just chalk it all up to me worrying about pretty much everything. So there.

I have always taken the kids to daycare at Sue Sue's because her house was about one minute from my school. This year, Phil will be taking the kids every morning because the earliest they can be dropped off is 7:30. That is the latest that I can be at work each day. This is probably the thing I am struggling with the most. I just like seeing those sweet faces right before I leave to go to work. I will be driving to work by myself every morning. It is going to be so strange and quiet. I haven't done that in five years! They love riding with Phil, though, so they will, as usual, be totally fine and have a blast every morning. I will probably be all teary and feeling lonely in the beginning. I'm sure I will adjust. Just have to get used to the new normal!

We have had to do a LOT Of prep to get them ready. Lots of supplies to buy, reading lists to complete, and lunch boxes to contemplate. We had to get them each a nap towel, so I got a friend to embroider their names on the towels that they chose for themselves. Sydney chose a rainbow colored polka dot/striped towel, and Rush chose a green one. Over the top? Maybe a little, but I don't care. I have never made school lunches, so this is a whole new world. Especially since my kids don't eat anything but peanut butter and jelly. Should be interesting! The lunch boxes are cool, though! Purple butterflies for her and Star Wars for him!



I am interested to see what Monday holds! I think the kids are excited. Rush was a little "iffy" there for a while, but the classroom iPads and train table have him thinking this place could be pretty cool! I hope all goes well. I will post again after the first day.


With their new teacher...

How is it possible that my "babies" are going to school? I won't even let myself think of this as real school yet. That's next year, right? Slow down, please. Just slow down.

Working Days

I had to work the last two days. I get even more super-attached to these two during the summer, so it was hard. I missed them. They are oh so much fun this summer! I think almost-five might be my favorite age so far. I think I have said that about all of the ages so far. They have all been my favorite. :-) Except age three. I didn't say that about three. Saw these pictures on my phone today and they reminded me of some of our summer fun! Time is flying by so quickly! It will be the beginning of a new school year before we know it!

Beach and Fourth of July

This week has been busy, so I haven't had time to write about and post pics from our vacation at the beach and then at the lake. We had so much fun! The kids had lots of fun at the beach this year. It was definitely rainy, but we had some good weather every day, and the last day we were there was beautiful! We ate LOTS of delicious food while we were there. The last night we were there, we stayed on the beach and had a picnic. The kids loved it! We came home for one night and then headed for the lake! My cousin and his family were there, and we had so much fun! Again... it rained, but we just kinda ignored the rain and kept going. We had fun swimming in the lake and tubing. Fran went tubing for the first time! She really liked it! We started the summer with Rush having a pretty significant fear of the water after a scary pool incident he had at the end of last summer. He has made great strides this week at swimming lessons, but he wouldn't go tubing last week. I think he would have done it if he had already been to swimming lessons. Miss Amber has really helped him overcome that panicky feeling he had in the water.

Now for the picture overload...