yep (Chistmas through January)

I fell off the face of the Earth. I think I can honestly say that. I feel like ever single day is a marathon and I'm just trying to get to the finish line so I can do it all over again. Mama needs a very long vacation (or a nanny), but since neither of those things are going to happen, I'm still running. We had a good Christmas. The girls were sufficiently spoiled. Even more so than I thought they were going to be. Adia's prized possession is her Leapster and various games. That thing goes everywhere with us. Luckily it only takes double A batteries and doesn't eat them too quickly. The twins loved it ALL. When we moved into this house, I told Daddy that there would be no toys in the living room. Ha! That lasted maybe 3 months before the mega blocks migrated. Now I have 2 tool benches, a giant Barbie house, Buzz and Woody x2, Strawberry Shortcake's house and cafe, several magna doodles, puzzles, blocks and Mr. Potato Head. Yep, and we won't talk about the playroom.


They had a blast picking a Christmas tree, decorating it and, with the help of our insanely spastic cat, redecorating it on a near daily basis. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get it out of our house.


Santa gave the twins watercolors for Christmas. I obviously didn't think that one out. What. A. Mess. It was all okay until Leia decided to eat the paintbrush. Yep, that's Leia.


We also attempted Shore Acres this year. Up until January, we'd had an incredibly dry winter. It didn't rain all of December until right before New Year's Eve. So we had a dry Shore Acres trip, but it was bitterly cold. The girls had all fallen asleep in the car too and were pretty much out of it, especially Mira. I think Leia enjoyed it the most and Adia was being a brat for most of it.


Gramma and Papa spent most of January and February helping Great Grandma move. Since she needed to downsize, we benefited. We now have an awesome China cabinet that matches our table and cupboards. It actually looks like it should have been sold as a set with our table. I love it and the twins definitely did too, until we had to child lock the bottom cupboards because they were trapping the cat.


Meanwhile, I was downsizing too. I went on a crazy nesting/spring cleaning bender. I rearranged the twins' room, cleaned out their closet and moved everything around. They love the new configuration. When that was done, I tackled our bedroom which still had unpacked boxes in it. The hall closet was attacked too because in order to get our new heat pump (our old one died in November and we were running on very expensive electric back up heat), someone had to go under the house to check the insulation. So now I can actually store my vacuum cleaner in the closet. It's a miracle. While I was cleaning everything out, I was also procrastinating tackling the laundry room. It looked straight out of hoarders, piled nearly to the ceiling and we couldn't find anything in there. It took me 6 hours and I packed the Subaru and our giant trash can with things to donate and toss. Now that it's clean, I don't mind doing laundry as much and there's actually room to walk around in there. However, while I was cleaning, Leia did something to her nose (I'm guessing she was picking it) and got a massive, gushing nose bleed. IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE. She soaked her shirt and pants, sprayed the wall and carpet and it was all over her hands and arms. It bled, or gushed, for the longest time. I started to worry that I'd have to rush her to the ER. I took a picture to show her doctor if they keep coming back. Luckily, they seem to have disappeared for a little while.


The playroom was last on my list for rearranging. The furniture was just too heavy for me to move by myself and we won't talk about the TV. I also had to remove toys without anyone noticing. They may never play with them, but they know the second they disappear. Daddy helped me move a few things and we're loving the new layout. It's cozier and the girls have a separate section with their kitchen stuff and table. They've actually been eating their lunches in there. We did discover that the cat had been busy eating the Wii Sensor's cord. Nice cat... The last room that got cleaned was the attic. It was another fill up the Subaru and trash can room. We did find a tub of clothes that my Aunt had sewn. Adia quickly stole the nightgown. It's her new favorite nightgown.


Adia also had another eye doctor check up. Her right eye got worse so we had to start patching again. She was very unhappy about that. She then broke her glasses shortly thereafter. Luckily, they were still under warranty so we didn't have to pay a thing for a brand new pair.


We've also had several snow days. It's not much snow, but the girls have had fun. For the first snow, Adia was at DiDi's house and they had enough to make a tiny snowman. Adia also made snow angels.


The girls have also been helping me cook. They have accumulated quite the collection of aprons.


We've been making lots of pizzas since Adia says they're her favorite dinner. Then there's the cupcakes and cookies. I have 2 new recipes for cupcakes that the girls absolutely love.


And they've been getting in as much Daddytime as possible, which will be in very short supply in the coming months. My marathon is about to get much much longer.

Thanksgiving and Santa

We had a good Thanksgiving. It was weird not having Unky Eck here, but we did have Gramma, Papa, Colie and DiDi. The girls had a blast hanging out with the people they love, but weren't so wild about the food. They did enjoy pumpkin pie though. The twins absolutely loved trying on all of Colie's jewelry. She's going to be in serious trouble when they get older. Leia already steals her shoes.
After dinner, they got to blow out the candles. Mira and Adia had no problems, but Leia kept blowing air up and sending her bangs straight up. She eventually got angry and grabbed the flame. Not her best idea. I had the girls make turkeys to decorate the house too. It involved painting coffee filters and then cutting their footprints out for the turkey body. They turned out really well. It was the first time the twins have ever painted too. Leia was a natural, which surprised me. She usually doesn't last long at art projects. Mira mostly painted everything black or brown. Along with potty training, Mira has started playing Uno. We're still working on learning colors, but she understands taking turns and matching characters. She's definitely getting better and has won a few games. I'm sure she'll be playing as well as Adia soon. Adia's an Uno card shark. Adia has begun writing words. I love when she asks me to spell something for her and she can write all the letters. I know she's supposed to only use caps at the beginning of a word, but honestly, I'd rather she spelled correctly and learning to make all her letters properly first. Just before Thanksgiving, Mira decided she wanted to start wearing undies like Adia. Within just 2 days, she was in undies full time and has only had a handful of accidents. I'm still shocked at how fast it happened. She's great about remembering to go and generally doesn't need to be reminded. DiDi bought the girls new winter coats and some new furry boots for Adia. We've been putting them to good use near DiDi's house. A new trail opened up that the girls love to walk. You can see lots of ducks, geese, loons and osprey. We've been having problems with Leia climbing under the block bucket and have had to rescue her a few times. She gets up and she's visibly disoriented. Definitely scary so we had Papa drill some air holes in it. In true Papa fashion, he had the twins help out. Mira thought it was the coolest thing ever. I see a power drill in her future. Leia wasn't so sure about it, which surprised me. She's normally my tool girl. We've slowing began decorating for Christmas. The stockings are up and we've put some lights around the french doors. We get the Christmas tree tomorrow with Gramma and Papa. Decorating it will be interesting. We saw Santa last week too. And actually got an awesome picture.

hello??

Yeah, it's been over a month, but the girls haven't been giving me much time to do anything. After they've gone to bed, I'm just too tired to blog. So, here I am, for the moment. I'm sure I'll be inundated shortly though. They seem to have a sensor for this kind of thing. Leia is obsessed with glasses. She hands me mine every morning and I can tell she really wants a pair of her own. Adia has a play pair that came with her doctor's kit and Leia carries them around. She's always wearing them and acting like a total clown. She gets so mad though because they're too big. They're always falling off her face. Adia knew that Halloween was just around the corner so she spent most of the month getting her sisters excited about dressing up and trick or treating. The twins were fairies so I bought them tutus. Adia kept changing her mind, but eventually settled on a witch. Gramma happened to pick up a wonder woman costume at Goodwill since they girls love dress up and it fits them all. They tool turns flying around the house. They also try to wear some of Adia's dress up clothes, but they're just too big. They end up stepping all over them and the dresses won't stay up. Trying to take them anywhere is a disaster. The twins don't like to stay in the cart and if you buckle them in, they scream or escape. Leia is a houdini. They do have their moments though. And I have been attacked. They know, they always know.