My Sistah's Blog!

My awesome sister has just entered the blogging world. See her and her cute kids here. She'll love hearing from you so get your comments ready!

Shared Laughter

Michael is really learning a lot of new words these days but our best communication is through shared laughter. I just put him down for his nap and when I started singing him a lullaby he went limp and pretended to snore! I thought it was so funny I started laughing and he joined in. That gave me the giggles and we both laughed together for a while. Just like his dad, Michael always knows when I need a good laugh and is an expert and finding something that will give me the giggles. I know he knows we're sharing something special and I love that little baby so much!

Failed Experiment

When we got home from our trip I wanted to tidy up the house so I threw out the plastic floor covering under the boys' high chairs. I haven't had to clean it up after meals as regularly as I used to and I thought I would try an experiment to see if we could do without one now.

No, we cannot.

It's been 3 days and the carpet now looks like a patchwork quilt with sticky oatmeal, applesauce, black beans, rice, and red nectarine stains.

Today I went out and bought new plastic squares to put underneath their chairs. I guess I'll have to keep wiping it up after each meal, but at least I won't be adding any more to the gooey mess.

Happy 50th Anniversary!

Last weekend my whole family went home to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was such a joyful experience and left us wanting to put our family first and live for a golden anniversary of our own.

The boys were in heaven playing in the huge backyard and on the neighbor's playground equipment. Sam fell in love with this "baby" as he called her and gave her kisses. I guess he felt like I was intruding because he wouldn't do it with me around.

Here he is with Grammy and "Papa" before bed our last night. He has been asking for Papa each day since we got home. We'll have to go back soon.


Maybe this huge lawn mower is why Sam is so anxious to go back. He waves to the men mowing our lawn each week and was so thrilled to be able to sit on a life-sized mower!


Here's Michael looking out the airplane window. He was such a good boy on the plane.

This is at the zoo with his cousins. Michael loves to walk like a penguin so he was excited to see real penguins in action! We saw five baby tigers. They were playing and Michael kept shouting at them "No push!" I guess he's been listening to me after all! They also had a baby zebra and a baby camel. They loved seeing all of the animals we don't have at our zoo and the bratwurst I just had to buy us for lunch! They don't make them like that here!


He amazed us all with his new-found tower building skills with Grandma's duplo blocks. His cousins held him up high when he couldn't reach the top anymore.


Here's the "B Team" cousins after a fun game of Celebrity.


Cousin D with Michael and Sam. They all look way too old. I'm not ready to have pre-schoolers but they love acting big with their cousins.


Here's Michael with Grandpa and Grammy. He enjoyed calling down the laundry shoot to her and hearing her answer back!


Grammy reading Sam a story our first night. He was hooked.

Michael sitting in my old high chair!

Dave bought a special-order Princess Torte (a half sheet!) that we ate over the course of the three days we were all together. It's white cake with one layer of vanilla custard, one layer of whole, fresh raspberries with whipped cream, all covered with marzipan. We all sat around the kitchen table to eat it together. We didn't think we'd finish it, but somehow it slowly disappeared!

After getting some family pictures taken in front of the temple, we all headed out to dinner together. We had so much fun sitting all around together without any kids to distract the conversation. Then, we came home for a small program in the living room. We sang "Love at Home" which we used to sing every Family Home Evening, then we watched a thirty-minute DVD slide show of pictures set to music depicting Mom and Dad's lives so far. We were all crying looking at the sweet pictures that brought back so many memories and described how hard Mom and Dad have worked to raise their family. Their love for each other and for their children is truly binding. We all want to be with them and each other forever.

It was interesting that there were no pictures of Dad's work on the slide show. His most important work has been being a devoted husband and loving father. There really is no greater success than a happy family. It doesn't matter what we do to put food on the table as long as we're honest doing it. What matters are our relationships with each other and our dedication to the gospel. That is what will give us families that want to be together eternally and the best chance of being worthy of that blessing.


Sisters.

Married for ten years and back at our temple together.

It's Official

Yesterday we officially entered the stage known as "Getting Into Everything." While I was standing on the back porch talking to a neighbor, Michael and Sam started playing with the dirt in the vegetable planter box. I put them inside and swept up the dirt with a broom. When I went back inside, they were sitting at their little table playing in baby powder which they had poured all over the table and the toys on the table. Another big mess! They looked so innocent and I was worried they had inhaled too much of the powder, but they seem to be fine.

Yesterday was also fun because I gave Monkey a bath. I snuck in to Michael's room while he was asleep and took Monkey. When Michael woke up, he cried and panicked because Monkey wasn't in his crib. I told him I gave Monkey a bath in the washing machine and that he drying off in the dryer. A few minutes later I saw Michael walking around holding Monkey! The dryer was still going so he must have opened the door, found Monkey, closed the door and restarted the dryer. They are inseparable!

Sam was cute while we were playing at a friend's house. They had a toy gun and he didn't know what it was. He thought it looked like my hair dryer so he started making a "whoo" sound and waving it around my head. I had to explain to the other mom that he was drying my hair. So cute! Sorry, Papaw. I'm sure he will eventually learn all about guns, and swords for that matter.

Sam was really sweet too. At bedtime tonight he was laying in his crib in the dark while we sang and said goodnight. He kept saying "Mommy happy. Michael happy. Daddy happy. Happy!" He even whispered it one time in the sweetest way possible. I told him we're all happy because we've all made it to earth and we're ready to keep going. I said we're going to be all together forever and he said "Yeah!" I'll remind him of that conversation one day, I'm sure.

Life is good.

This and That

Josh decided to get a few pictures of cute things the boys do every day. Here are my favorites.
This is Michael playing in the water in the bathroom sink. He does this every time I put on make up or do my hair which is, I grant you, not actually an every day occurrence, but he likes it because I let him play with the water.

Here is how he's standing. Not the safest arrangement with all of his weight on just a few toes, but adorable.
Ha ha ha! This is Sam trying to climb onto our bed with a bucket "hat." EVERYTHING in the house takes a turn as a hat. This one was the best. They surprised me and came around the corner to make mommy laugh. It worked.

Last week we went raspberry picking. I planned on making freezer jam but couldn't find the right pectin so I just froze them and am slowly eating them on my cereal. It was a perfect example of why having twins is both hard and great. Unlike all of my friends' kids, Michael and Sam took off like shots as soon as I got them out of the car. I spent the first half of my time chasing them over this hill - one at a time, mind you, and always in opposite directions. I literally sprinted when I realized I couldn't see Michael anywhere on the horizon. He was standing in the middle of a road and was about to trot off into the woods when I saw him. I was so sweaty and so tired of chasing them instead of actually picking berries. Why couldn't they just stay with me and help me pick like the other kids - that's why I brought the cute buckets that I had to track down a few times anyway. They eventually got overheated and tired out like the rest of the kids and were whining. Then something amazing happened. Sam pulled up some grass and threw it onto Michael's head. Michael laughed and all of a sudden I had the happiest toddlers in the bunch because they could play together and entertain each other. I thought this was pretty cool and was again grateful for having two at once. It was a gorgeous day and I loved being in a place so big and open. Maybe we'll move to northern California where every small town has fruit orchards. Then I can spend more of my days chasing the boys down dusty roads and enjoying the great outdoors together.

Deep Breathing in New York City

You wouldn't think that breathing the air in Manhattan could be refreshing. People complain of the special stink that is a tangy mixture of rotten produce, exhaust and urine. And yet, spending just twenty-two hours there this weekend was both renewing and energizing.

Earlier this month Josh and I had our 10th wedding anniversary. We celebrated this weekend by dropping off the boys at their grandparents' in Philadelphia and heading up to NY, NY.

I can't even explain how amazing the trip was. I have been dying to see something big. Something where you can't see it all without turning around in a circle. New York was just the ticket. I've been up there for a few brief visits before but this time I got to make the list of things to see. Josh was at my command. Hungry? Let's eat. Tired? Let's sit down. Want to find out what's down this street? Let's go!

We started off by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so exciting. I had so much fun! I kept saying "I can't believe we're doing this!"

After that we walked over to Little Italy and ate amazing pasta at a family-owned restaurant where our server was speaking Italian to the other workers there. Too much fun.
Along the way we saw this parking lot with vertical parking. I guess we're country bumpkins because we could not believe our eyes.

We checked in to our hotel, The Hudson, and took the subway down to the Empire State Building. We called Grandma from the top to check on the boys. Michael had been a little sad that he couldn't find us, but was fine after some hugs from Grandma, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Sam seemed to be in heaven with his Tio Juan (Uncle John).The next morning we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This picture is blurry, but they have an amazing Egyptian display including a real temple. Josh now wants to take our family to Egypt and learn Egyptian, just for fun.

We also saw some Monet, Pissaro, Manet, Renoir, Degas, and I had to take this picture for my dad, Van Gogh.

We walked down Park Avenue and took a look at the Upper East Side, then stopped in Central Park before taking a cab through Times Square to catch our bus back to downtown Philadelphia.

From downtown Philadelphia we took a train the rest of the way to Grandma and Pepaw's house where we saw our apprehensive toddlers waiting for the train on the platform. Michael burst into tears when the train's whistle blew and even though I had not missed them as much as I felt like I should have, as soon as I saw him crying I started panicking to get off of the train. I ran around asking "Where is the door?" then ran to my baby as fast as I could. He didn't let go of his mommy for the rest of the night. I guess I missed them after all!

We've decided that we really like walking around a lot. We loved being outside so much and walking all over town. We've set some goals to get out of the house more, to walk and exercise more, to take more sight-seeing trips, and, for me, not to let the kids' every demand rule our life.

Resolved: 1. I will teach my children that there are more ways to have fun in life than eating dessert. 2. I will get dressed in the morning and make dinner in the evening without giving in to whining. 3. I will make doctors appointments for myself and get my haircut regularly even if it changes our schedule or I have to leave them with a friend for a while.
4. I will occasionally delay their naps so we can get out of the house and have more fun. We'll see how long this attitude lasts. Probably until Josh goes back to work on Tuesday and I'm alone with two kids whose favorite word is "no." But is was sure nice to feel this way for a while.

Since Sam and Michael were born we've just felt like we've been sprinting a race. We were able to slow down and talk to each other without thoughts like "What am I going to make for dinner tomorrow" or "Will I really have time to iron shirts tonight?" running through my head. We were so blessed that one day felt like a week. We were so busy going from one thing to the next but each leg of the trip felt like it's own separate vacation. We couldn't believe we had only been gone one day.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Grandma, Pepaw and Tio! Sam especially loved being at your house and sincerely misses you. He points to the phone and says "Tio!" He wants to talk to you all the time! He is talking more and I think he just felt your love and is happier knowing there are more people in this world who love him. We had a wonderful time and thank you for your service taking care of the boys so we could take this trip and slow down in the City that Never Sleeps!