Family

A Wedding and A Bond

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Congratulations Layne and Greg!

This past weekend we were honored to attend the wedding our cousin Layne, and her very strapping husband, Greg Potter. 

This weekend was a “first” of many things for us.  Our first airplane ride, our first night away from home, our first three-day-pass to pacifier heaven…

We got to play with so many of our family members.  And, I have to say, the girls were marvelous. 

We got to see our great Granny again and we made quick work of all her magazines and breakables.  She was so gracious to allow us to spend some time with her in her cozy home.

We got to eat cookies, cookies, cookies!  Tess:

Nora:

Tessa wanting a bite of Nora’s cookie:

The wedding was beautiful for so many reasons.  It was beautiful in its own right–as two people share their love for each other with their community of family and friends–and it was beautiful in the thoughtful details and the labor of love that it took to piece each part of it together.  Layne and Callie, Joyce and Mike, were all so gracious to us and so patient with us.  And we appreciate it and give thanks to them.  It seemed like such a whirlwind of a trip to us.

But I did take one moment to look over at Layne and Callie at the reception.  And in the midst of all of the excitment, I caught a glimpse of the future.  As the two of them leaned into each other to tell a story, to make a comment, to whisper a secret—I saw my girls. 

There is a unique bond between twins that is so incredible I cannot find the words to describe it.  But I can see it. 

And, as we raised our sippy-cups to Layne and Greg in celebration of the wonderful life that they will live together…

I was also reminded of the life that my girls will share with each other and allow us to be a part of.  We should be so lucky and blessed to have such beautiful, wonderful girls as Callie and Layne…And for that, I raise my glass.

Family

Thanksgiving

One year ago, this week, I went back to work after the girls were born. Oddly, I remember that week quiet vividly.

In particular, I remember writing my dear friend– and fellow-mother-of-twins–Amanda an email message about the shock of being back at work. I searched for that email message this morning and re-read it. Here’s how it started:

November 15, 2006:

I tried to write you Monday but I started to get teary so I stopped.

Yesterday I was swamped (welcome back!)

This morning I thought of you, too. Here’s what I was thinking…

Have you ever seen that McDonald’s commercial where the lady in the minivan goes through the drive through window and orders some breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. She looks over at the passenger seat and there is her 12-year-old kid and two more in the back. The tag line is something like, “It wasn’t until Pam took her first sip of McDonald’s delicious coffee that she realized that she had three kids and was late for soccer practice.” I guess the coffee is so good that it shakes you out of the mind-numbing stupor that is your life to make you realize that your really a mother of three with motherly duties. That’s me. Except I haven’t had the coffee yet.

On Saturday night, unlike the “Saturday-nights-before-Nora-and-Tessa”, I went to to grocery store after the girls went to bed because it was going to be the only time that weekend that I could get the grocery shopping done and Chad stayed home to listen for the girls and worked on his sermon for Sunday morning. As I turned down the coffee aisle at the store, I was reminded of the terrible batch of coffee sitting in my pantry, and so I opted for something new–a Seattle’s Best something-er-another…I don’t know what it was. Over-priced, for sure, but it was coffee, it was already ground and we needed some. Badly.

So, today, this morning, I’m driving to work in the morning dark with my regular large mug of coffee. And I get to about halfway to work and it hit me.

I am so thankful for this life.

I am so thankful for Nora and Tessa and for our families who have been able to share with us the greatest joys of our lives.

I am so thankful for the laughter and the squeals and the tickle-times and the songs and the singing and the games of tag and the ring-around-the-rosy and the meals and the milk and the books and the air and the parks and the wagon-rides and the words and the hugs and the kisses and the endless endless endless love.

One year later and finally I feel like I’ve had my coffee–that I am awake to the life and the love around me. And so I give thanks.

Here’s to another year of thanks…and to good coffee.

Playtime

$0.99 Worth of Fun

There are some neat toys out there.  I can see how parents get caught up in the excitement of toys for their kids.  It’s so exciting to see your own children so amazed and wrapped up in all the neat toys and games and STUFF that is available.  It’s so fun to watch the girls play and play and play.  They do some amazing stuff, too, by making up their own games, imitating us in the kitchen, and working all the flips, switches and buttons on the toys that are constantly scattered across our family room floor.

I would have to say, though, of all the toys we’ve bought for the girls, the toy that is the most fun–hands down–is the beach ball.

When the beach ball comes out…(Nora in blue, Tess in pink)

It is GAME ON, BABY!

SMACKDOWN!

We need to get some video on the intensity and hilarity of the beach ball chase.  The girls get a hold of the beach ball and they start bouncing off the walls and floor and EACH OTHER–just like balls in a pinball machine–and they laugh and laugh and laugh hysterically.  Apparently, the goal of the game is to do a total face smackdown into the ball and bounce right off the top.  There have been a few close calls, I have to admit, and the thought of padding the walls of the family room have come to mind…  But the beach ball chase is just so much fun (and such a great way to burn some energy) that we have to break it out every so often.  And it only cost $0.99.

Don’t touch my beach ball, baby…

Parenting

Bright Ideas and Yogurt

On Sundays, I’m home alone with the girls from the moment they wake up until Daddy gets home from church around 1:00 or 1:30–if there’s no after-church meetings or anything.  About every other week I manage to get the girls up and ready to get to church around 10:30 for some fellowship and then to the nursery during service.  So, I feed the girls at least two meals by myself on Sundays–breakfast and lunch.  It’s no big deal.  Actually, it’s pretty easy and fun and the girls are pretty good about eating most things.  We’ve figured out what they like and don’t like and are always trying new things and just trying to take it slow.  Mealtimes are busy and it is sometimes exhausting to be fetching the milk, making the meals, warming the food, picking up everything that gets chucked to the ground, helping with spoons, making something else cause they’re still hungry and/or refused to eat what you just spent 20 minutes making, retrieving the sippy cups from the floor again, trying not to cry over spilled milk, brushing teeth after every meal, general entertainment during mealtime consisting of songs, dancing, disappearing acts, and pretending like Mommy actually gets to eat too during mealtime, etc., etc.

So, a couple of Sundays ago, we got through a good breakfast and the girls were asking for more! more! more!  So, I open the fridge and think–“Hey! How about some yummy yogurt!”  Oh…the girls were so excited.  So, I dished it up, handed them each a spoon and here’s what happened…

Tessa…

Nora…

Say Cheese, Tess!

Love you, Nora!

Tessa…

Nora…

It took me a long time to clean up.  We’re not usually this messy.  But the smiles were worth it.  We love yogurt–just not the clean-up.

Nori

Finally! A decent meal around here!

Look who is a member of the “Clean Plate Club”: Miss Norita.

We love sausage and corn chowder, peaches and carrots.  Yum.

Taken with Chad’s camera phone because we could not pass up this photo op:

God that was good!  We laughed until we cried.

The Girls

No sleep for you!

Sometimes…when you only get a couple of hours of sleep…you entire world gets turned on its head.

Or, maybe we should just do some yoga and call it a Friday…

Working on less than three hours today…no apparent explanation.

The Girls

Happy Halloween

Hello, everyone!  Tessa the Ladybug here…

Just gearing up for Halloween over here on Walmer Street…

Here’s Nori the Bumblebee…

 

Ahhhh!  Attack of the killer Nori-bees!

Don’t worry…I’m safe in Grammy’s arms…

We thought Trick o’ Treating was lots of fun.

We’re too tiny to get any candy, but it was fun to get out and see all the other kids and just walk around.

Playtime

Toes

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I love this video Chad shot with his camera phone.


I’m not good at embedding so I’ll attach the link as well:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeKJYgsBQM

Here, the girls are home with Daddy and he turns on the music–their favorite song “Toes”. What I love the most about this video is not just the sweet dancing that’s going on but how the girls connect in different ways with the music.

Tessa (in green) goes to get the rattles to dance to the music which is demonstrating her connection of the rattles to the music. And she starts dancing and bopping around the room with her rattles. How appropriate to get out the rattles to shake to the music–which Tessa vigorously engages in.

Nora (in pink), however, goes to get the pink capes. The capes are actually just blankets that we put on the girls (like capes) and then we fly around the room and sing. The girls love to wear the capes. She first hands one to Tessa. Sharing. Helping. Engaging. Tessa, however, is busy with her rattles, but Nora insists that Tessa takes the cape, which she balances in her mouth for a short time before it falls to the ground again. Nora then takes her cape to Daddy so he can help her put it on her back. You can hear her say, “Dad” before the sharp “uuuuh!”–the insistence that Daddy is not moving fast enough to put the cape on her. Then you see her swaying and “flapping” along with the music. Once Nora has her cape situated (and Tessa’s cape falls off) you see Tessa decide that she too wants to wear a cape like Nora and begins to petition Daddy for his help. But the video has to be put down to accommodate the “cape maintenance” responsibilities of Daddy.

I’m not sure why Nora connects the capes with the singing and dancing, although we do sing and coo when we wear our capes. I think she is initially prompted to go over to the toys (and capes) when she sees Tessa go over there to grab the rattles. This is an example of the “herding” that I see with the girls. We call it “monkey see, monkey do” around the house. It reminds me of the part in Jurassic Park with the dinosaurs are running in the field and run as a pack, a herd, following each other wherever the leader is leading them.

Anyway, I think this video is fascinating. And not too bad for a camera phone.

They’re not babies anymore…it makes me both happy and sad.