Honey & lemonade

Ryan's been a bit under the weather for the past few days.  It seemed like nothing major, just a runny nose and a dry cough.  It started late last week and progressed a bit over the weekend.  She never complains but this time she was asking to go to the doctor.  If she was asking I was sure that something was wrong.  She never complains.  Cory advised against it.  Told me to let it run its course for a few days.  Should have listened to my wise husband but I didn't.

I took Ryan and Reese to see Dr. M (Reese insisted on going).  The sick entrance was packed and kids were coughing all over each other.  Gross.  If we weren't sick now then it was going to come from being close to one of the other sickos in the waiting room.  Dr. M checked out both girls and they got a clean bill of health.  Just a little cold that's been going around.  She told us to eat a tablespoon of honey and drink lemonade.  Ryan was happy about this.  Two of her favorite things.  I was thinking, "Really?  I just paid $60 to find out that my kid needs to eat honey."  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that she didn't need to go on antibiotics but I think I'll listen to my husband next time he tells me to wait it out for another day or two.

A spoonful of honey with a glass of lemonade to wash it down

Mind the gap

I was going through photos and was laughing at Reese's sweet smile and her enormous gap between her front teeth.  She really goes to town with her thumb sucking and it shows with that gap.  

It's one of my favorite features on her.  I think it's so quirky and unique, just like Reese.

Our 5 year old neighbor came over the other day and asked me when Reese lost a tooth.  I had to explain that she hasn't lost a tooth.  It just looks like it because of the space between her front teeth.  Her bite is off too (hello, braces!) and makes it seem that much bigger.  

Check out the gap tooth smile in these photos.  It's in full force!

 Oh my!

Getting braver

Ryder is getting more confident in his walking abilities.  I wouldn't say he's walking yet but he's definitely made some big strides this weekend.  This is what's happened in the past 2 days:

• Taking 5-6 steps on his own
• Letting go of the furniture or wall and stepping on his own to his next destination.  ie: letting go of the ottoman and taking a few steps before plopping down to crawl
• Standing up from sitting position without pulling up on anything.

I think that last one takes a lot of muscle control and coordination.  He's been crawling for so long now and I'm going to be sad when it's gone but there's nothing cuter than a baby that's beginning to walk.  

Tiger mother

I dowloaded this book on my Ipad late Friday night and finished it in a few hours yesterday.

I found it fascinating and somewhat horrifying all at the same time.  It's not the way I would ever raise our kids but I was mesmerized by it.  I think it was such a great read for me because her parenting style is SO different from mine and she is a great storyteller.  The book is so honest and I found it to be endearing and funny at times.  Her daughters are turning out to be brilliant, talented, gracious, and well adjusted girls so maybe there's something to be said for her style of Chinese parenting.  As I said, this parenting style will never happen in our world but it's nice to see the other side of the coin and helped open my eyes to maybe making some more structured choices for our family.

Independence

There are so many things I love about having twins, but one of my favorite things is how well they play together.  I think it's so awesome to have a built in playmate.  I never had a sister so I sometimes find myself feeling giddy thinking about the great moments they will share together.

As much as I love the playtime together, I really treasure how independent they are and the contentment each one has with her own company.  I captured them playing with their different toys today.  They love pretending and I overheard Ryan saying, "I now pronounce you monkey and wife".  They have little conversations all on their own and I love spying on them to see what they're making up.

 Thanks to Lori for giving an awesome gift to Ryder.  All 3 kids are loving it right now, but today Ryan was all about building her wedding scene for monkey and wife.

Peas in a pod

Look at these two.  They like to sleep in together.  I love the bed head and sleepy eyes.  Ryder sure does love his daddy and it's understandable because he's such a lovable dude.  They have been 2 peas in a pod since the beginnning.  It's the sweetest thing to watch them together.

 I almost titled this post "The Pointer" because Ryder is pointing at everything these days.  He's usually pointing at something and saying a word like 'dog' or 'dada', but sometimes he's just pointing to point.

The little things

Sometimes it's just the little things that make you so happy.  Today we didn't have school because parent/teacher conferences were going on all day.  The kids got to have a lazy morning at home and then we played outside for awhile.  I love the lazy days.  The weather is so gorgeous right now and we love being outside.  They rode bikes and we got out the wagon and Ryder was a big fan.  He was strapped in and he loved eating his graham cracker and milk in the wagon. 

 Ryan's drink of choice is the strawberry milk.  Reese prefers the vanilla milk.

 My little scruffy boy loved his crackers and soy milk.  

He's so happy as long as he can play with his big sisters.  He thinks they hung the moon.

 Jessica and William came over for a visit.  It's so awesome that they live close by.  We love Jessica so much and she is an amazing aunt to our children and a wonderful friend to me.  I am so grateful that she and my brother ended up together.  William is the sweetest, most mellow baby.  He started crawling this week.  No army crawl for this boy.  He's up on all fours and cruisin'.  Reese was so proud of William and she couldn't resist giving him a big hug.  She's such a lover and is already asking for baby #4 to join our family.  She wants a baby girl named Elizabeth.  It's so hilarious when she tells Cory this and you can see him breaking out in a sweat just thinking about 4 kids.

I need an intervention.....

for these 2 items.

 Caramel Light Frappucino and Popcornopolis Zebra popcorn.  Help me now.  They were sampling the popcorn at Costco and I was an idiot that bought 3 bags of it.  It's delish but I can't buy it again. I ate all 3 bags by myself in less than a week.  The Starbucks addiction is a whole other story.  I crave one every day but only get it every 2-3 days.  My wallet can't handle more than that.  It's such a great pick me up in the morning or afternoon.  I need to give it up but this is one hard habit to break.  The best part of this week was getting my coffee and eating the popcorn with it for a double whammy of deliciousness.  I am SO the picture of health right now.  Anyone want to join me at the gym to burn off 5,000 calories??

A really fun project

When I picked up the girls up from karate class at school today we saw a kid with a big roll of paper and we all gathered around to see what he had rolled inside.  It was a tracing of his body that he had colored it at school that day.  Reese took one look at that project and told me that's what we were doing when we got home.  We had a lot of fun with it.  She laid down on our roll of Ikea easel paper and I traced her head to toe.  That's when the fun started.  She colored the entire body, drew a face on it, and of course, signed her name a few times.  She couldn't resist coloring the spaces in between the legs and arms and I told her it looks like a cape.  We put it on the back patio door and couldn't wait to show daddy when he got home.  I think we're going to trace Ryan tomorrow if she'll sit still.

PS<> I know I'm posting a lot of art pictures lately and this may seem mundane, but this is our life right now.  It's artwork (Reese), dolls & dressing up (Ryan), and trucks (Ryder boy).

On the mend

My forehead scar is healing quite nicely.  Not as Frankenstein-ish as I thought it was going to be.  I slather it with tons of sunscreen during the day and vitamin E at night hoping it will continue to fade.  The Dr. sold me some amazing concealer that I not only use on the scar to cover the pinkish color, but on my under eye bags.  It's so helpful for those days when I've had a 3 kid night in our bed and I'm looking a bit haggard.  Always have something to be grateful for ;)

Lego lovin'

 It seems he's discovering a new toy every day.  Today it's Mega Bloks.  He got a set for Christmas and we have so much fun building stuff.  Can you see he's sitting inside the bin where we store them?  As usual, all up in the mix of things.

On a side note, baby boy got one of his molars in already.  I knew it was coming and that it was gonna be a biggie, but he handled it like a champ.  He's so not a fussy baby, and for this I am so grateful.

Our favorite things

We have some new 'toys' that we're enjoying around the house.  Ryan loves my new Ipad.  She has no idea that it's not hers.  She likes to play SuperWhy games and watch the one Justin 'Beaver' video I downloaded.  She's a whiz at using it.

Reese is crazy about her artwork.  We busted out the easel 'weasel' today and she went to town with the painting.  They both did actually, but Reese painted 3x as much as Ryan did.  They both had lots of fun with the paint and mixing colors.  I've already got it hanging in the hallway.

 Planet Earth painted by Reese. 
She cracked me up when she told me that the green is the grasslands.

 Our family by Reese.

Ryan has the Picasso thing going on.  

She loved mixing red and yellow to make orange, her favorite color.

Juggling it all

I really want to work on one of my hobbies right now.  I go back and forth between digital scrapbooking and traditional scrapbooking.  I'm not crafty or artsy.  My pages are really simple and generic but I do like to put photos on paper instead of just having everything saved on my computer.  I just wish I had more time to do it all.  I sit down to scrap but the piles of laundry and dirty dishes in my sink nag at me.  I know I'm not the only one that feels this way.  It's hard to juggle it all--kids, work, cleaning, and trying to have hobbies/time for ourselves. 

As I organize my photos I realize how behind I am.  This is what I'm working on today, while trying not to feel guilty about all the other stuff that needs to be done:
 

 I'm scrapping our Christmas cards photos from the past few years.  I'm 3 years behind.  Don't worry, I'll catch up someday.

Sleepover & dinner in

The girls went to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a sleepover with Haley. They were so excited and we got an update that they played school most of the night.

While the girls were away Cory and I went to Dana & Scott's house for a dinner in.  It was a great night.  Ryder & Masey played and crawled around while we ate yummy Mexican food and margs.  We missed the girls but having just one kid to take care of seems like a vacation for us.

Sleeping baby

There's nothing better than a sleeping baby.  He woke up with a little bit of a cough this morning and was up early with Cory and I.  Now he's back to sleep in my bed and looks so peaceful sleeping right next to me as I work on the computer.

Busy day

It started off with dance class at the community center.

 Then we got a call from Misty and she said they were heading to the zoo.  We grabbed a few essentials from home and headed over to meet up with them.  The impromptu meet-up turned out great.  We had fun checking out the animals, ate lunch by the pond, and then romped around the kiddie play area.  We left a little before 3pm and the kids were bushed.  They all slept on the way home and stayed asleep awhile when we got home.  Can't wait to go back again soon before it gets too hot.

 Ry on the carousel.

 Ree was so excited to ride on her dolphin.

I spotted this lovely little garden on the way out.  Had to take a photo because I really want to create something like this on our side yard.  I don't know a lick about gardening but that may have to be something I look into this year.

Ryan

She is one of a kind.  The child is pure comedy with the stuff she says but the best part is she's not really trying to be funny.  Yesterday she told my mom, "Mimi, monkeys FREAK me out like frogs freak you out!"  She said monkeys freak her out because they throw things.  She says this kind of stuff with a totally straight face and has us cracking up. 

She's always asking me, "Mommy, what's so funny?"  It's you, my little comedy girl.

Our little artist

This is Reese's drawing of a heart.  

She puts them on everything.  She started writing her name a few months ago and she's gotten really good.  Now she writes everyone's name in our family and draws a heart after each one.  This is what she did at preschool today.  I love it.

 Her teacher couldn't believe that she knew how to write each person's name in our family.  She pulled me aside and said how great she is doing.  This is always nice to hear as a parent.  I told her that writing and drawing is Reese's thing right now.  She seriously writes names, draws, and colors all day long at home.  I'm really proud of her.

Here is our entire family that she drew.  Ms. R helped her write the names on this one.  I love that she drew Ryan in orange and herself in yellow because those are their favorite colors.  So thoughtful :)

Mirror Mirror

 I wonder what it's like to look at your sister and see a mirror reflection of yourself?  I will ask our girls someday about this.  In the meantime, I just watch them and I'm fascinated by them.  Their little idiosyncrasies, the fact that they are genetically identical but could not be more different, and most of all the mirror images that they are of each other.  I read somewhere that 25% of identical twins are mirror, which amazes me even more.  It started with their teeth coming in on opposite sides, then it was their hairline-one parting on the left, the other on the right.  Now I know for certain because Reese is left handed and Ryan is right handed.  I love these photos where you can see how similar & different they are all at the same time.

They got the camera again....

and I found some funny ones.  There were 42 photos when I downloaded the camera. Most of them were of their toys and a few shots of Sesame Street on the TV.  I really like this one of Ryan.  Her dimples are so cute!

 

Reese writing names on the milk jugs--red is for Ryder, orange is for girls.