Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful baby boys today!!

I can't believe that they are 2 years old already!

Let's see, what have we accomplished in the past 2 years...

We got to hold our two tiny babies!

(it was actually not the day they were born - that day we couldn't hold them at all)

Lucas (on the right) was 4 lbs. Andrew (left) was 4 lbs. 1 oz.

They had lots and lots of tubes.

We brought them home, fattened them up and made them tell each other secrets

(or try to eat each other...)

We played and played.

We made them sleep outside.

Not really - we thought sledding would be fun. Which, it's not too fun when you can't really walk.

But, they started to LOVE to play outside.

We played outside as much as we could with 2 crazy kids!

And now look at them. All big and stuff.

Happy Birthday Boys!!

mmmm....chocolate

Having twins means entertaining all. the. time.

So, in the spirit of keeping these guys busy, we made chocolate cupcakes.

Vegan, of course.

They were yummy.

Obviously.

games twins play

I got this idea from another blogger. If you have twins, you need to check her out. If you don't have twins, you should check her out anyway. She's funny.

Game # 1: Ready? GO!

In this game the boys take turns getting into running position and yelling "Readyyyyyy? GO!", then run as fast as they can towards the other one. They pause and give the other one a turn. It usually ends when something breaks or falls over or when Luke starts coughing uncontrollably and I make them stop the game. Thanks to my mom for teaching them this game.

Game # 2: Put Away

In 'Put Away' the boys dump all the toys we own in a pile on the floor and then put them away. Sometimes other stuff gets put away too. Cups get put away inside boxes and forgotten about for a few days. That's gross.

Game # 3: Baby Eden Cry

Baby Eden is at daycare. In this game, players shrilly scream at the top of their lungs and then say "Shhh, Baby Eden Cry". And do it again.

Baby Eden Cry gives me a headache.

Game # 4: Do you wanna.....?

This game is played with Daddy. NOT Mommy, only Daddy. Daddy asks the boys if they wanna do things like "do you wanna touch the wall?" and the boys reply "No wall."

"Do you wanna put your socks away?" "No socks".

The game either ends when someone wants to do something or dad says, "Do you wanna get THROWN ON THE COUCH!" and the boys get tossed onto the couch and laugh until it starts again.

Game # 5: Swing from the chandelier

This is self-explanatory, and no, I am not kidding.

Happy Ween!!

The boys are a little confused with "Happy (Hallo)Ween" and "Happy Birthday", but in their defense, it is their aunt's birthday today, and we were singing happy birthday to her all weekend.

So, we were excited for Halloween and going trick or treating, but the boys had other plans...

Luke did NOT want to be a skunk!

It was proving to be very difficult wrestling them into their costumes and keeping hats and tails attached in order to take a picture.

So I did what any good mother would do, and bribed them with M&Ms.

Which did the trick, of course. Who can resist M&Ms??

They stayed in the costumes long enough for a short photo shoot.

They have LOVED handing out candy to kids and are running around the house yelling "DING DONG!" every 3 minutes.

When the doorbell rings, they race to the door and hand the kids candy.

Our first trick or treater was a witch, so we (idiots) said "Bye Witch!".

Now the boys give every kid a piece of candy and yell "BYE BITCH!"

poopoo why

I've done a bad thing.

I have introduced my boys to the television.

It was an honest mistake - I dvr'd a show for them that we used to watch before naptime in the summer. I thought it would be a great time-filler for those 10 minutes I need to slap supper together or sit in a quiet room by myself.

I should have known.

I'm a tv addict, what did I expect? (p.s. Luke even sits in my favorite spot on the couch and covers his lap with my blanket when he watches tv - hmmm he must have seen that somewhere).

Now all I hear, all day long is "Poopoo why?" (Super Why for those of you that don't speak toddler).

"Mom, poopoo why?"

"Mom! Poopoo"

"Mom!!"

"Momomomomomom."

"PEEESE??"

Then when I finally buckle and give in (which doesn't take much with those sweet voices, excellent speech skills and giant blue eyes) I want to rip my ears off of my head when that stupid theme song begins.

And yet they are so happy...

Thanks a lot, poopoo why.

so why am I so busy?

So, I'm busy. I'll get to that at a later date, but right now I'll give ya a couple of clips on why I'm busy:


Above the boys are playing with my work itouch.
I don't know if you all know, but I have a new job this year - Assistive Technology.
It basically means I have to figure out if kids need technology to meet goals and what to do if that is the case. So, for work I have an itouch. The video above is me demonstrating how to use an itouch in therapy for children ages birth to three.

Then this happens:



And finally...




So now you know why I'm busy. New job, loud kids, crazy life...

bye-bye summer

I was born to be a teacher. Literally. Two of my grandparents were teachers, my mom is a teacher, my aunt is a teacher, my other aunt is a teacher (speech pathologist like me, actually) and I grew up celebrating the end of one school year and preparing for the beginning of the next. I helped my mom get her room ready every year; putting up bulletin boards, taking out those thick, brightly colored textbooks. Reading books that I was supposed to be putting on her bookshelves, and taking some home to read later. Helping her write names on desks, chore lists, popsicle sticks. Walking through an empty school that smells like school, only cleaner. I loved every minute of it (and still do).

Something happens to me in the fall. It's like a new, fresh start as soon as the air gets a little cooler (and usually, here, it warms back up and cools off, then warms up, etc. until it starts snowing). I can start a new year with my old job and meet new kids and it is my most favorite time of year.

I love dreary days when I light my FAVORITE candle and put out my fall decorations and wait for leaves to turn colors. I love baking things made out of pumpkin and drinking apple cider. I love unpacking boxes of things I put away last year. I love going into my empty school, my empty classroom and starting all over, putting things away. I wouldn't change a thing about my job so that I get this fresh start every fall!

Don't get me wrong, we've had a WONDERFUL summer around here. I got the chance to lay around with my boys all day, play in the sandbox, swim in the pool (kiddie pool, people), read books, clean my house (really well during naps), soak up some hugs, break up some fights and just enjoy my kids. And now, I'm ready to go back to work.

I will miss hanging out with my kids all day, sleeping in until 7:00, sitting on the floor reading books until whenever, running to the store whenever, running to the park whenever, thinking about what I might make for supper and making treats for when the boys got up from their naps.

I will NOT miss the fighting, biting, and stealing of toys. Nor will I miss changing diapers. That is definitely not something I will ever miss :).

And now, when I work all day and come home to my boys, I truly enjoy my time with them. I will rarely have moments where I need to "get away" from them. We'll read books, and play for a condensed amount of time, but still have a lot of fun!

I'm good when I'm busy. That's something I've learned about myself. I love to relax, but I'm good when I'm busy, so bring on the school year!! I'm ready for it!

dj jazzy twins

I come from a fairly musical family. I think I may have instilled some of my musical talent in my kids - if I do say so myself.

Enjoy. :)

P.S. Ask me how much I hate "Livin la vida loca". I dare you.

and we're back!

Why is it that whenever I get home from a vacation, I am more exhausted than when I left??

It may have something to do with the fact that when my boys were gone last week, I rented movies and stayed up late, late, late (like 1:00am) watching them and counting on the fact that I would get to sleep in. I was up at 7:30, people!

Or maybe that when I went to Grandma's house on Wednesday, she had me non-stop racing around to pasta bar, visiting friends, Pizza Ranch buffet (at which, by the way, Luke preferred to eat green beans to pizza. Whose kid is that??), Grandpa's play on Friday night (yay for Paynesville Community Theatre), bonfires, swimming, tanning, chasing dogs, staying up WAY TOO LATE visiting with Adam's family, etc. Plus I read a couple of good books, the boys got to see Auntie Amy and Pete in their triathalon today, and I got to see a couple of old friends!

It was a good weekend. I should show you some pictures. Oh, but wait, my camera was upstairs in my bag all weekend and I didn't get any, hopefully Auntie Amy will send me a really cute one of Luke, sleeping in the swing. He fell asleep, drool dripping down the front of the swing (shaped like a car, so there's a place for drool to drip).

And now I feel fat from all the eating, drinking, laying around, snacks, and treats, so I'm gonna go workout. Jillian, here I come.

it's just so quiet here

I am temporarily childless this week. And, man it is quiet.
I've sent the boys to their grandparents' house (Adam's parents) so I can get our house painted - which would really be impossible if my 2 best helpers were here! I can picture them picking at tape and tramping gray paint all over the wood floors, so I am grateful for grandmas but I miss my little buggers! I'm headed to the lake tomorrow to play, go see some farm animals with the boys, swim, boat, see Grandpa in his annual community play, see Auntie Amy and Pete in a triathalon (which she tried to talk me into - ummm, no thanks!) and just have some fun (hopefully) in the sun!!
So far grandma had some cute stories of the boys. She took them to vacation bible school to listen to the singing and Andrew was smiling at everyone and introducing himself! He points to his chest with his thumb and says "An-oo", then he points to Luke with his thumb and says "An-oo" and smiles at the strangers. It's cute but we still don't say Luke around here yet...
Lucas was pointing at the pictures on Grandma's fridge and naming all the people (that kid LOVES looking at pictures, especially of himself!). He named "An-oo", "Dad", and "Mom" then blew my picture a kiss. Grandma said it was too cute. He does love his mommy!
They did their fair share of fighting over grandma's toys too. And I sure miss them around here.

a letter to my skinny jeans

Dear Skinny Jeans:
I met you in the Gap and you were ON CLEARANCE!! Therefore, I had no excuse NOT to buy you, duh. I did not dare to try you on in the store because I didn't have the right boots for you, so I brought you home and threw you on and wore you around my house.
I had visions of me looking like one of those emaciated gap models, wearing you out clubbing and to fancy restaurants (Ok, I haven't been "out clubbin'" ever, really with the exception of my bachelorette party 5 years ago and the fanciest place I get to these days is Buffalo Wild Wings). We'd strut around lookin all hot and stuff and people would think, "Wow. She looks really good. You can't even tell she's had two kids!" (again, my dream, people...)
And I do look REALLY good from the knees down:

And that is all anyone will ever get to see.

Summer photos

Over the 4th of July, our whole family got together, as we do every year, and my sister-in-law took some wonderful pictures of my kids having fun at the lake. (for the record, my brother married well as she is pretty much an awesome photographer and pretty nice too. She has a photography company if anyone is interested... let me know!)

Here are the boys and their cousin, Grant.

On "Papa's Vrroom"

(grandpa's tractor)

Luke LOVES the water!!

Andrew's getting better, but the lifejacket made him tip backwards!

Andrew playing

Luke in the paddleboat

Luke is obviously fine with water. Sheesh!

Andrew's trying to dunk his head in too

Andrew in the paddleboat

(they were on shore, not in the lake)

They are so cool.

Thanks, Morgan!!

what we say

There is a lot of talking goin' on around here.
Well, if you know me at all, you know that I'm probably the one doing most of the talking, but my boys are joining in.
No, really!
I should explain - they've been talking for a long time now it seems. They started talking around 1 year or so, saying the typical "mama, dada, puppy, uh-oh, ball" - you know, the usual. But this summer, man, they are talking. And I wish I had a video camera on them all day, because they are funny.
Mostly they talk about "poop", "oh goos" (gross), "uky" (yucky) and blame everything on "An-oo" (neither says "Luke" yet, should I be worried? They receptively identify Luke as Luke or Lucas, but don't say it. Hmmm. I spose I should work on that).
Today I had an entire conversation with Luke about the "beep beep" aka carbon monoxide detector that beeps really loud if you push the test button. It went like this:

Luke: Mama!!
Me: What Lukie?
L: Mama! Beep beep, NO beep, NO NO NO, nah-tee, touch, no beep, touch, no, nahtee.
Me: Yup, No beep. All gone.
L: AH -gah, no beep. Touch, nah-tee. No No, An-oo No Beep, nah-tee, touch, no.
M: Nope, Andrew won't touch it
L: Nah-tee, no beep, ah-ga, uh-oh, ah-gah, no beep.
M: Right, no beep.
L: Mama!
M: What?
L: Cookie?

Ah yes, a boy after my own heart. Cookies make all the worries go away.

Also, although Andrew didn't have such a long conversation with me today he did tell me "Mama. Pretty. Eyes" (I'm training them well, aren't I? :)

Then he proceeded to poke my eye and I'm now wearing my glasses because my eye is still red and burning. Thanks baby.

my new love

Oh, Jessica. You are my new best friend. I'm not sure how to tell you quite how happy you make us around here. Really. Thanks!

I just got this FANTASTIC cookbook!

I have picky eaters. One of my boys is picky (the other would eat garbage if I fed it to him) and my husband is picky. Like ridiculous, gagging on vegetables, can't even stomach it in front of the kids picky. He is terrible.
Enter Deceptively Delicious.
It's a wonderful cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld where she created kid-friendly recipes with added nutrients and lower fat, sugar, icky stuff.
Such as:

(Scrambled Eggs)
You may not be able to read it (it's called focus, Kristine, but I'm not a photographer - duh.). So, it says there is cauliflower in the eggs. Yes, you puree cauliflower (it's not necessary to get carried away and do 3 heads of cauliflower like I did- one should be fine) and you put the puree in with the eggs, some sour cream, cheese, blah blah and it's GREAT! Andrew ate it and Luke ate it (of course) and even ADAM ate it.
Then I told him what was in it and he said "What? Why would you do that? GROSS!".
And I laughed.

Take a gander at this one:

Yes, cookies with chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzo beans for those of you that may not know)

And there are tons of recipes! Mac and cheese, burgers, muffins, bars, soups, chicken nuggets, pizza, lasagna, etc.
LOVE it!


Here I am making zucchini in my old babyfood maker (which you don't need, but I have so it's serving another purpose and works great!)

So you cook the veggies, blend them/process/puree them, and then freeze them in baggies and stick them in the freezer so they are ready to add to a recipe.

And you don't tell your husband.




P.S. I wanted to let you all know that prior to actually having children I saw Jessica S. on Oprah. I said "that's dumb. When I have kids, they will eat their veggies without me having to do anything stupid like hide them in foods. that's just setting them up for failure. Blah blah blah."

Then I had kids.



P.P.S. I didn't get paid by a sponsor for this post or anything, but if you want to pay me, I accept. :)

one crazy day

I am trying really hard lately to be a more positive person. To see the good in things instead of complaining about the bad stuff, deal with it and move on and focus on the best part of the day. Therefore I am not going to complain about the moron check-out lady at Target that was the
SLOOOOWEST EVER (ok, a little bit of complaining) and I'm not going to tell you that we waited in line for 30 minutes to check out! I won't complain (much) about dropping a container of yogurt on the floor that exploded and it took the checkout moron 10 minutes to call for clean-up, which really wouldn't have been that bad had she done some checking out while waiting (hence her job title). I won't go on and on about my boys having a super-fun screaming contest at the register and the moms around giving me those "oh, poor lady" looks and the young newly-dating couple behind me glancing uncomfortably at each other trying to figure out a way to get out of my line so they didn't have to listen to my kids. Plus, I'm not focusing on the fact that when I got into my car, I tried to call Adam and realized my phone was nowhere to be found (since, I've located it at Target guest services. It's still there.)
I am resolving to focus on the best parts of my day. And it was a good day. Really. Overall.
Today after nap, I was hoping the boys wanted to sleep longer so I said "more nigh night?". Andrew said "no" then proceeded to shake MY head no with his hands, just so the point sank in a little bit.
We were in a parade! Really!! A real parade!! My Mom's of Multiples group was in the parade and the boys were SO good. They did fight a couple of times, but really, they were strapped in a stroller for 3 1/2 hours, I expected nothing less than a couple of fights. They loved waving at people and saw their daycare lady and friends. Their twin friends Annika and Finn were with us in the parade and the boys could not stop saying "Anni" over and over again. (By the way, Anni was made for parades. The girl waved non-stop for 3 hours!)
Luke helped cool off his brother by taking a drink of water and spitting it out all over him. Andrew didn't mind, so I let it go. It was gross and cute all at the same time.
Along the route, we saw dad. It was so fun to see him along the side of the road, the boys were very excited "oooo!! Dad!! Hi dad!"
Andrew got a haircut and looks really adorable. Luke got a haircut because he needed a trim, but I like his curls best, so his hair will look really adorable in about a week. :)
Luke is figuring out where potty comes from. He cracks me up.
My house is a mess. I made Adam clean the kitchen while I sat and watched. Is that mean? That's a positive thing though, my husband will clean my house if I force him to.
See, I can stop complaining...

love and statues

We're at the lake, and boy, do I love the lake! The boys and I have been here all week, and let me tell you, it's been a good week. We've been going for walks, going for boat rides, relaxing, playing outside, riding our trikes, getting a tan and visiting with family and friends.
The boys love their "boppa" (grandpa) and they also love St. Francis. Weird. I know.
For those of you that may not be Catholic, St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment. My dad received a statue of St. Francis that is also a birdbath for a gift from teaching confirmation classes for many years at church. The statue/birdbath is in the middle of their backyard. It's weathered and recently suffered some destruction when on Mother's Day the twins were running around the yard wielding sticks and knocked a bird right off St. Francis' shoulder (a plastic bird - not real). So began the relationship with the statue of the saint.
I made the boys apologize to the statue for hurting it (me trying to be a mother who teaches compassion - also to distract them so I could take away their sticks which were on the way to poking out an eyeball).
Now when we go outside, we have to go up to the statue and kiss his head, the squirrel on his shoulder and the fawn on his lap (which the boys yell "puppy!!" at and bark at - we're not getting into all that right now).
So, St. Francis, sorry for your shoulder, sorry for dumping you over to get the water out of the birdbath, sorry for the spit on your head. Forgive us in Jesus' name. Amen.
We'll try to keep a safe distance.

hop, hop. roar. roar.

We have this frog puppet washcloth. (We also have a shark, lion, and tiger, but more on those later).

I thought it was funny to "hop" the frog all over the tub one night - entertaining Lucas and scaring the crap out of Andrew. I ate his hand with the frog, and it was all over. Crying, "no, no hop", and needing to get out of the bathtub immediately. (what a terrible mom!) I honestly didn't know it was going to freak him out so much. Whoops!

So, Andrew has been trying to be brave. The first week or so, he would see one of the puppets and just walk very much around them, but the other day he actually picked one up! It was the lion. I decided that since I was such a terrible mom before, I should rectify the situation and I kissed the lion. MMMMMWHA. So, Andrew kissed the lion. MMMMMMA. He even put the lion on his hand. All is right in the world. Except that he said "hop hop" with the lion. So, being such a good mom, I said "no honey, it's roar". He walked around for a little bit "roaring" with the lion (and kissing it too - so that's good). He said "bye bye roar", dropped the lion and moved on to the next thing.

Since then, he's been finding any of the washcloth puppets and saying "hop. Roar" and "bye bye hop roar" and "no no hop roar".

Now tonight, in the tub, Andrew was playing with dinosaurs. Adam was "roaring" the dinos at the boys, everyone was having fun, splashing, squirting the dinosaurs. Then Andrew picks up a dinosaur and says "hop".

What have I done?

experts

We have twins. Did you know that? That means TWO kids. And, our twins are 18 months old. That means they are absolutely nuts! Like running around - diving off furniture - leaping down stairs - climbing on the oven - opening the doors - messing up the living room - putting toys away in the pots and pans cupboard - nuts.
And it's double what you're thinking. I promise.
So since my life is actually insane, I've had to do a lot of calling doctor's, poison control, googling, etc. to find out everything I need to know. I thought it might be fun to compile a list of 25 things that I am now an "expert" on due to having my children. Feel free to quiz me on any and all entries. Here goes:
1) Cloth diapering
2) Breastfeeding/Pumping
3) Black eyes
4) Making baby food
5) Organic gardening
6) Veganism/Vegetarianism
7) Head injuries
8) Natural cleaning
9) Money-saving
10) Asthma
11) Sleep Apnea
12) Baby CPR/Choking/First Aid
13) Poisonous Mushrooms
14) Dave at poison control
15) Vaccinations
16) Sleep Schedules/Schedules in general
17) Baby sign
18) Tornado spotting (ok, this isn't from having kids, this is due to my fear of storms)
19) Lost (the tv show)
20) Rashes - reactions of any kind
21) Medicinal uses of herbs/essential oils
22) Blocking out crying at night (ooo, I've gotten really good at this one :) )
23)1,2,3, Magic
24) Putting snaps on
25) Marsupial Sue

Maybe I should share the knowledge...

puppy head?

I never know what is going to happen when I'm gone for an evening.



A new purpose for the Easter baskets...

I'm a genius

My latest genius moment came in the form of a beverage. You've gotta try this.

So, you probably know what an Arnold Palmer is - a drink of 1/2 lemonade, 1/2 iced tea. Here is my version/specific way of making an Arnold Palmer - duh, you've probably made it before, but here's my way (and if you've made it this way before, don't tell me - let me think I've invented something) :)

First I make a pitcher of watery lemonade. Put in about 1/2 the amount of concentrate, powder, or lemons than you usually would add.

Then I put in my tea - and favorite new invention - Cold Brew Iced Tea bags. Really great! And again, if this is not news, sorry I was pretty excited about it

You could do the same thing with peach nectar for peach iced tea, add mint, sugar - Yum!!

sorry it's such a mess...

The "Minnesota Nice" thing is sometimes so funny to me. Everyone always makes excuses for their, well, everything! For my job, I go to people's homes and work with their kids. The kids are usually 2 or 3, and these people often have more than just the one kid. I'm typically greeted at the door with the mom saying "Sorry, it's such a mess". I smile, laugh and say "I have two little boys at home, it's not even close to what my house looks like." I'm trying to make them feel better, more comfortable, you know? But isn't it the truth?? If anyone even stops by at your house and it's not sparkly clean, (like you weren't planning a party in which your husband kept the kids upstairs or downstairs all afternoon so you could have a clean and organized house :) ) you feel bad having me over and seeing your stuff on the floor.I'm not lying. My house is worse!! Here is what I came down to after a shower today:



It looks as though everything was dumped on the floor!
Oh, it was!!
So, you see, you don't have to be nice to me when I come to your house. This is what my house looks like on a daily basis. I don't care! It's fun to dump all the toys out. It's fun to throw blocks around the house and sit on the edge of the mess playing, looking like you could not possibly have anything to do with what happened around you. None of that matters. Especially when you have good helpers to clean up after themselves.

Plug:
Luke is cleaning our hickory hardwood floors with Daisy Blue Naturals' Lavender Pine Cleaner. Non-toxic, safe for babies to help wash floors with. Ask me if you want any!! It's fantastic!!
(Really, I was washing the floors, and 2 helpers found towels and came to assist me. It was pretty cute :) )

ah...motherhood

A Mom. There is nothing in the world that I'd rather be, and with Mother's Day coming up, I'm getting all sentimental and "mommy"ish. There is nothing better than tonight.

It all started with an incident - which always seems to happen with 2 boys around my house. After baths, we bring the boys - in towels - to their room to get their jammies on. Tonight, we were short a diaper, so Adam ran downstairs to grab another one and what do you think happened? Luke disrobed, grabbed his blankie and nuk, threw his towel on the floor and inadvertantly pottied on it. It being the towel and the corner of his beloved blankie.
We tried to substitute the "back-up" blanket, but it just isn't the same, so Luke proceeded to cry and yell for his blanket. (Side note regarding twins: It was REALLY difficult for Luke to see that Andrew had HIS blanket, so we had to switch out Andrew's too. They both needed to be washed, so whatever, but what we do for one, really HAS to be done for the other.) Andrew took it in stride, looking for his blanket, but resolving to use the back-up. Honestly, until tonight I had no idea they were even attached to the darn things.

So back to Luke having a fit. I started the laundry and couldn't handle his crying; he was doing that multiple breath thing, you know, sobbing. I went in to rock him and try to help him relax. (I really take any chance I can get to go back into their room and hold them and rock them to sleep)

There is nothing better than rocking babies. Really - that's about the best thing ever. Seeing my little boy look up at me, feeling his chubby little hand touch my cheek (then dig his fingernails into it), giggling, and smiling at me, sticking his finger up my nose and trying to poke my eyes out. I really do love it all! I take a cuddle when I can get it because I know that it just won't be that way forever.

After a hard day of work, there is nothing I'd rather do than come home and just be "mommy". Mommy is pretty cool.

spring sicks

Ick, ick, we are sick :(
We're on the upswing now, but last week was rough. Until now, twins have been fairly easy to coordinate, but last week changed my mind! Luke had pneumonia starting Monday and Andrew felt great. I stayed home with the boys and was ready to send Andrew back to daycare by Tuesday, but then he too got a fever. I was on the phone with the dr's office and nurse care lines more times than I can remember. We were back in the dr's office on Thursday and Andrew had bronchitis, pink eye and an ear infection. Thursday afternoon, I got sick. but that's beside the point. Sick twins are no fun.
Oh, I loved that they wanted to cuddle and just sleep with mom all day. So nice (since they usually don't pause to sit for anything!). But when one was being held, the other was jealous. So, you hold two. They start poking and slapping each other's faces, and we wonder why everyone had pink eye... They wake each other up. Throw food at each other (no one was hungry) and just overall brawl as well as sick kids can.
Over the weekend, Adam was the parent most of the time (because I got sick too), which was a relief! Plus, the boys feel much better now and are happy and playing once again.
A cute, positive story for you:
This morning, the boys were eating breakfast (more of a pre-breakfast snack, actually) at their little table and I was in the kitchen getting ready for work. Dad gave them some cereal that was left at our house and they hadn't eaten it before (Cinnamon Toast Crunch btw). I hear "huh?" crunch crunch crunch "mmm cookie!". Then "huh?" crunch "oh mmmm". I was laughing all the way to work. :)

Happy Twins Opener!

Happy Opening Day, Minnesota Twins!

(photo courtesy of Grandpa Don)

sorry - can't get the picture any bigger

P.S. Those footballs have since been eaten. By the boys. No, they were not edible.

vegan...again

I've been eating a (primarily) vegan diet for 4 weeks and have to tell you - I love it!! I have people roll their eyes at me (Nicole, my mom, my mother-in-law), and much to my sister-in-law's dismay I love eating vegan food! If you've ever thought about it - just try it - you will LOVE it! Here's my top ten list of why:
1) It's soooo much easier to cook! I like cooking, love it even, but I'm not good at it. I can't follow a recipe to save my life, and my poor husband lost a ton of weight just by eating my cooking. Sorry, honey! A vegan diet is mostly grains, vegetables, fruits, and soy products. Grains are about the simplest thing in the world to cook. I cook all my grains prior to cooking the "main course" (like on Sunday or the night before) and I can't even mess those up (too badly).
2) It's way cheaper. The first week was maybe about the same as my old grocery bill, but buying grain in bulk is cheap. Polenta was 2.99 and I made 2 giant casseroles with it and have a TON left to make more. Fresh veggies are fantastic (better for you and relatively less expensive than say, cheese or frozen meals).
3) It wasn't that much of a stretch (for me anyway). If you ever have been out to eat with me in the past 10 years, you'll know I don't usually order meat. I've had to have my poor friends check and double-check my chicken before I ate it, so I stopped ordering it altogether. Next, I started cooking less flesh at home - I hate cooking meat. I also hate milk. Yuck! (however I do drink soy milk with my nose plugged for B12 and calcium)
4) In 1 month I lost weight. So far, 4 lbs. down! Plus, I'm honestly not hungry. Grains, fruits and veggies fill you up really well.
5) I think about food differently. And that's a good thing! I used to envy people who looked at food as fuel. I'm there now! Don't get me wrong, I plan on socializing over meals, it's just changed my thinking.
6) I FEEL better. A biggie. I don't have aches and pains (especially my back). My allergies are not nearly what they used to be - in fact I haven't had a claritin all season yet!
7) My kids are eating better. They still eat meat and drink "real" milk. But they also eat my vegan food too and LOVE it. They are trying all kinds of vegetables and grains and tonight Luke asked for a third helping of polenta casserole. YUM!
8) Cheese substitutes aren't that bad. Really! I've made cheesecake and a red velvet cake that were both vegan. Not bad! (I do however love cream cheese and cheese in general and that has been the hardest thing to give up, but I've had some dairy here and there throughout the month - so I'm not a great vegan... - and then felt sick immediately following the dairy eating)
9) I can taste my food. I take my time to eat food - mostly because grains are chewier than swallowing a hunk of cheese. And my food tastes very different because it's all new to me!
10) I FEEL better!! I had to repeat my reason because it's my favorite one!! This whole month was a trial to see if I would feel differently. Would I feel weak? Sickly? Hungry? Could I really do this? I can honestly tell you that I feel good. I made a good choice!
Will I stick with it? Yep, sure will!! Forever? I don't know, we'll see. I'm not a vegan because I don't believe in killing animals for food. I feed my family meat sometimes. I have a whole bunch of deer meat in my freezer and 1/4 of a quarter of a cow (is that 1/16th of a cow?). I just wanted to see if I feel good - I do.

Happy Easter!

I thought you'd like these pictures. The boys are reading their Easter cards from their G-GA (Great-Grandma A).

They are also enjoying snack at their table - which they would like to eat all meals at right now because it's so cool :)

time out!

We had a 15 month check up this week, and our doctor told us that now is the perfect time to start disciplining our children. Since we have two EXACTLY the same age, this will come in handy. A typical "behavior" issue would be as follows:
Luke doing something naughty
stop Luke
Luke does naughty thing again
distract Luke
Andrew notices said naughty behavior
Andrew tries it himself
stop Andrew
Andrew tries one more time just to make sure it's still naughty
distract Andrew
Luke remembers naughty behavior
and so it goes. Literally ALL the time. It helps when both of us are home, but if not, no luck. PLUS, now we've been visiting relatives (example Auntie Amy) and the boys terrorized most of her house. Whoops.
So, back to discipline. Per dr's suggestion, we set up a pack and play in the living room to use as a time out spot. If they get a warning, and continue the behavior, they sit in the pack and play for 1 minute. you may think that doesn't seem long, but trust me, they realize it's not supposed to be fun.
We'll see if we can teach these kids any manners. :)
Luke's been in time out 5 times so far.
It's only been 15 minutes.
not surprised.

veganism

Recently I've been reading about, researching, and trying to be vegan. I'm on week 2 and feel pretty darn fantastic. Here's a video that says it better than I can.



Next I'm buying this book:
www.eatinganimals.com

run!!

We are so good at walking, that recently we've upgraded to running! Everywhere!
It called for a trip to the store to pick up some of these:

They were so funny - I wish I had my video camera when the boys put the shoes on for the first time. They wouldn't walk in them at all, and crawled around the store! :)

Now, a couple weeks later, they have adapted well and love their shoes. They help get them and put them away, but still need help with getting them on and off, but they look really cool.
And really fast!

haircuts, continued...

So, back to haircuts...

Here is Mr. Serious after his haircut.

After Andrew was done, I think that Luke could tell he was nervous, so Luke came up and gave him a "kiss" (almost a bite on the face)

Luke's turn. Above is the before.

And the After!
Not that big of a change, just a trim to keep his curls intact.
See his little red cheeks, more teeth are coming in. I think that makes #11 and #12.


After haircuts we went to Noodles to have some lunch. The boys had mac n cheese with big boy forks! Dangerous, but they did so well!!

A good day and no one poked an eye out!

haircuts!

Today was an exciting day!! We got some haircuts!! Andrew was long overdue, sporting a flock of seagulls meets the flying nun look with wings out on the sides and weird sticking up all over the place: Notice the upper left side of the picture - flying away. I don't really have many pictures of Andrew's "bad hair days" truthfully, because I felt bad for him. :(

So, we went to the hair salon and were pretty serious.

Before:

During:

And after will have to wait, due to technical difficulties.

Stay tuned for more...