Easter 2012

It was the first year they weren't afraid of the bunny. It was the first year that I didn't restrict candy intake and therefore it was the first year we were still awake at 10:30 p.m. Lilly complained her basket was too small and Addy started filling up her dress with the egg overflow. We gathered with 4 generations for brunch and I don't think my girls realize how special that really is. Hopefully one day they will. Enjoy the pictures. Note for next year: plan to dress warmer (it was chilly in Indy)

Valentine's & What Winter?

Thanks to my new obsession with Pinterest, I've been feeling slightly underachieving lately. Between the crafts some moms post and the 'everyday' meals that make my dinner table look inadequate, this amazing website can be both thrilling and depressing at the same time. After seeing all the Valentine ideas, I knew the standard box cards weren't going to do it for me this year, so we set off to make a modified version of this...

Addy, loved this photoshoot!

Lilly, a bit under the weather, was a trooper and picked the cutest lollipops!

Living in Indiana, we prepped for a pretty heavy winter--this was the first year we splurged on snow pants, boots, sleds and enough hats/gloves/ear muffs to last a few seasons. I knew they'd love playing in the snow this year, so I was ready! But, of course, as luck would have it, we've actually seen very LITTLE snow. The girls have managed to 'need' to shovel the driveway only once and during our annual lake weekend with some dear friends, we saw only flurries. The flurries were enough to convince my husband that the girls could 'street sled' on a flat road covered with a little frost. They had a blast, but these pictures do make it look much more dangerous than it actually was. It was a great weekend with friends and their kiddos who my kiddos adored, so all in all, it didn't matter that we didn't see snow.

Shovel Queens

Addy--my adventurer

Lilly--much more cautious, but loved it!

The dads at launch~!

The weekend crew!

Ten Holiday Memories (The Good, Bad & Ugly)

December was a whirlwind and I spent most of the month coughing up a lung with a respiratory infection that wouldn't quit. A & L fought it too, but not quite as bad. We tried to make the best of it and we had A LOT of highlights, capping the month off with the wonderful wedding of my brother, Jonathan and his beautiful bride Maggie. I'll save that post for another day as the girls rocked their flower girl duties, but I didn't want to skip a good holiday post. Here, in no particular order are 10 of our holiday memories!


10. A quick stopover at the lake house on the way to the wedding in Lansing, MI. The girls always think it is a special occasion when they get BOTH grandparents in one place...this day was no exception. The weather had been unseasonable warm, so long walks and snuggles in pj's were just the way to spend the day before the wedding festivities began.


9. The loot...they did pretty well this year, Santa was good to them. Some favorites include some new games for their leap pad, new dolls, a horse & carriage for the dolls, lots of learning board games (you can always tell grandma was a teacher with her gifts), pj's, fairy wings, dress-up supplies, craft kits and more.

8. The Indianapolis Children's Museum never disappoints. We ventured down to explore the giant snow slide, winter wonderland exhibit and meet the Mrs! They were so excited because Santa had told them she was at the North Pole baking cookies when they met him this year, so the fact that she was at the museum a week later, was pretty cool!

7. Jeremy & I pushed a favorite holiday memory on our kids. We were so excited to take them out to look at lights and bundled them one night, made hot cocoa and the night was a disaster! They whined and didn't understand why they couldn't get out of the car....they didn't get it...maybe next year! Jeremy & I had to lecture each other on not pushing our own 'favorites' on our kids, we had set our expectations much too high for the night! This was the 'bad'.

6. The pre-school holiday program was my highlight. The girls sang "Up on the Rooftop" and memorized every word, all 3 verses. They were so confident, so proud! I may try to post the video online during a snowy winter day, but it wouldn't let me during my last attempt. It was a proud mama night!

5. Aunt Cat visited! In preparation for the wedding & the holiday season, she spent 9 days with us. The girls were in 7th heaven, asking one day during breakfast "Aunt Cat, do you live with us now?". They have so much fun when she's around--going for 'carrots' (aka frozen yogurt, but they tell mom they went for carrots), visiting some local kid hot spots and of course going to the movies. They love their Aunt Cat and can't wait until they are 'big' enough for a trip to the nation's capital!

4. Daddy was an elf. Yes, we had a visit from the Elf on the Shelf, but that's not what I'm talking about. Daddy's company had a contest to see which managerial "pod" could raise the most money for their holiday service project. The group that raised the most won the right to dress their boss as an elf....Jeremy lost and this was the outcome. This was the 'ugly'. We had to go to his office to surprise him and see it for ourselves.

3. The girls baked and daddy baked. But between my coughs and the girls coughs, we threw away a lot of germy cookies! Dad distributed all that were deemed healthy (cooked after bedtime) and the girls ate their fair share over the month. We'll all need to lose a few pounds in January.

2. The night before Christmas, we went to church, gathered at Jeremy's parents, opened gifts, then got in our jammies to write a letter to Santa and read the classic. Always look forward to this tradition each year.

1. Each year, we are honored to host a crew of 25 (give or take) for Christmas dinner. After a rough round of health issues for Great Grandpa Bill & Great Grandma Mickey this fall, Jeremy & I were so grateful Addy & Lilly could see their great-grandparents on Christmas. The girls don't know any different as this is how they have spent all of their holidays, but we count our blessings for this and all our family this holiday season! (This was very good!)

Santa Sightings 2011

The month has already been a whirlwind and A & L are so excited about the holidays! They keep track of their days in 'number of sleeps', so today, we have

• 
  
  13 sleeps until Aunt Cat comes to visit


• 
  
  14 sleeps until Santa comes


• 
  
  20 sleeps until Uncle Jon & Maggie's wedding

Their life seems to be a party right now, but they are loving it. We did breakfast with Santa yesterday and they each took their notes to him. Addy was very detailed, complete with a cut-out picture from a catalog. She wants the doll carriage & horse. Lilly was less specific, asking for books, toys and barbies. In a classic mom-of-the-year move, I took a camera with no battery power, so the pictures from my cell phone will have to do this year! I was just grateful they smiled instead of cried!

Addy & Santa

Lilly & Santa

There's No Place Like Home: Halloween 2011

October was a whirlwind. I seemed to be sick for most of it, almost 2 weeks of respiratory issues, so many things on the 'to-do' list went unchecked: Zooboo, pumpkin patch, Friendly/Haunted house at the children's museum & the annual picture taking in the leaf piles. I'm trying to learn to erase the mommy guilt and enjoy whatever I can. However, I think since I did carry the mommy guilt, I may have over-compensated with overbooking a few social activities to celebrate Halloween. With all of Addy & Lilly's social engagements also came costume changes. They have a serious obsession with dress-up right now, so they took full advantage of the season. Enjoy the pictures...

Addy in her first Princess costume of the month

Dr. Lilly ready for her party at the YMCA
Addy was then inspired to be Princess #2

Minnie Mouse made an appearance for their pre-school party

Here's Addy as Dorthy & Lilly as the Cowardly Lion for the night of Halloween

The whole family got in the spirit for a friend's party-this time Lilly was Dorthy & Addy was the Cowardly Lion (perk of twins, right? a quick costume trade?)

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

I love birthdays and birthday parties. Sure, they are stressful and 4 year old parties are total chaos, but they are fun and the girls LOVED the day! They had strong opinions of who "needed" to be there, what we would do, where we'd have it and all. I loved the ice cream theme and hosting it at a venue other than our home was an added bonus. We rented a room at "Recreation Unlimited" , a giant warehouse of 15 swing-set structures, trampolines and playhouses. I bought their cute t-shirts, through I Spot You then stocked up on ice cream and all the toppings! Thanks to everyone who made the day special for our girls.

Invites designed by a friend

The only family picture of the day!


Addy, showing off her t-shirt.


I'll huff....and I'll puff....

Addy's choice-strawberry with whipped cream, sprinkes & a couple cherries on top!
Lilly's choice: Chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce and mini M&M's on top

At the bar :-)

Opening presents--so blessed--Barbies, coloring books, craft supplies, books and more.

A few of our favorite friends!

4th Birthday

We are a week post-birthday around here and this mama is still recovering! It was a fun-filled 4 day extravaganza, as we know we don't do much on a small scale. The girls were SO excited for their birthday this year and I felt like they really 'got it'. They were anxious to tell everyone about it and the first thing Addy said when she came in our room that morning, "I got bigger in the night!". We have done the 4-year old check-up at the doctor and they continue to ROCK the charts--94th percentile in height--can we say Butler Basketball scholarships anyone? They are big enough to ride in booster seats, but we'll use the 5-pt harness seats as long as we can. We got their haircut at 'the spa' and they felt so special. We wrapped up our appointments with the dentist today and they didn't even need to hold my hand-such big girls. They had no cavities and told the dentist and doctor about all their good habits (we left out the obsession with the self-serve frozen yogurt places around us).

I wanted to do something on their birthday we hadn't done before, so we headed to a local waterpark. They had a blast with friends and met Daddy for lunch and birthday ice cream. They were exhausted and behavior showed...I was hoping the transition out of the tantrum wielding 3-year old stage would be instantaneous! But, overall it was a fun day I hope they'll remember, if they don't, I have the pictures to prove the fun! I'll do taped interviews with them again sometime soon, they have so much to say. I'll also post birthday party pics this weekend, but for now, here are pictures from the actual birthday-enjoy!

What's a birthday morning without some awesome presents!?
Lilly at the waterpark--always the supermodel! Seriously, if we lived in a bigger city, I'd get this girl an agent!

Addy--harder to catch on camera--I have a lot of pictures of the back of her head

Rainbow Sherbert--best ice cream in town!
Yum! Birthday princesses in their new Disney outfits--loved the dresses--hated the glitter trail they left in my house!

Fourth of July for (almost) 4 year olds

Going to the lake, 3 bottles of sunscreen, ice cream cake, tubing with daddy, swimming at the pool with mommy, chasing Baby Owen, dancing to a rave with Savannah, turtle hunting, mocktails at the tiki-bar, driving the boat, hot dogs, Uncle Joe's Birthday, making peanut butter ice cream, nature hikes, new friends, old friends, foregoing fireworks (there is always next year!)...coming home exhausted!

On the way home, we stopped to see our favorite bulldog and Uncle Jon and soon-to-be Aunt Maggie!

In the lake with their favorite girlfriends!

Hugs with Savannah (sweaty girls--it got near 100 degrees)

Laughing on the boat

Addy--a laker girl in every sense!

Mommy on the tube with the girls

Daddy's turn...


Meeting a little turtle

Hanging with the boys