We'll be here all week, folks. Be sure to tip your waitress.

Grandpa took around one thousand pictures over the course of the birthday weekend.
You read that right. 1-0-0-0
So, it's taking a while to go through them all.
Nice problem to have!

This is a very shy Em tentatively checking out the moonwalk.
HA! Right.
See how she's running towards it.
"At Last! I've wanted one of these ALL my life!"

Cousin Charlie hammed it up inside the moonwalk. The girls are eating it up!

Then they all sat around and talked about how annoying their parents are and why don't we just let them do what they want to do because they're 2 and 7 already. Gah!

Then, the ring-a-round-the-rosie/peek-a-boo commenced.


Except Aunt Gail crashed the party. But she's pretty funny. So, it was ok.

And beach balls! In the moonwalk! Roo just has to give it a big 'ole hug.

The counterpart to the Rowdy Girls, the dynamic duo, C2, sprang into action.

But, Roo was faster.
"Pinned Ya, Clint! Now give up the beach ball or I'll scream in your ear."

And then... they all fell down. And had to get out. And eat breakfast. And change out of their pajamas.
The End.

Pre Party Party

The day before the party, the girls' Aunt Gail arrived with cousins Charlie and Clint.

The boys came straight in the door, nodded at the girls and went directly to the yard asking for our dogs. Needless to say, the girls followed. And much fun took place.

The boys were SO sweet to Em and Roo. They took the time and effort to play gently with them.


Even when the girls started playing rough first.

*I know, how surprising.*

The girls had animated conversations with the boys and they pretended to understand.

And they all cheesed for pictures together.
*3 out of 4 ain't bad*


We also had cake. Beautifully made cakes chosen with the girls' individual passions in mind. Very fun to watch Em exclaim "BALL!" and Roo proudly recognize and display an "X" from the cake. Delicious, too.

Best Birthday Cake. Ever.

This was the greatest birthday cake ever.

And, bonus.

No one had difficulties finding our house for the party.

They Say It's Your Birthday. It's My Birthday, Too.

Em & Roo
1 month old
(Technically, they're 37 weeks gestation, and still a month shy of their actual due date. If my faulty memory is correct, they're just over 5 lbs in this picture.)


Em & Roo celebrating Numero Uno birthday


and now...

Turning Two.



Happy Birthday Darling Girls!
We are so proud to be your parents and we love you so very much.

Goodnight Maawooonn

The best thing about bedtime these days is the audience participation during the nightly recital of Goodnight Moon.



In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of

(turn the page and pause)

The cow

(pause)

*Roo usually inserts a "BUMP" here*
Jumping over the

(wait for it... wait for it...)


It's sort of a combination of a cow mooing and the word moon.

"Maawwwoooon"

It's the perfect word.

Uh Oh! Spaghetti O's

Em at 15 months


Roo at 15 months



Em and Roo at 23 months and 24 days.

Some things don't change.



P.S. Em wants to be sure you don't miss her close up.

Whistling Dixie

Clean Up Clean Up. Everybody Everywhere.

What a busy weekend! Among other things, we had a garage sale.
Several neighbors joined us and we had a decent turn out and all decluttered our homes.

One of those neighbors has a houseful of kids (too) and their oldest is a high schooler.
She's also our babysitter. Love Her!
They purged loads of stuffed animals from their house and had them in a massive storage tote box.

And this box mysteriously migrated to our side of the street and into our sale offerings no fewer than 10 times.

We so do not need more stuffed animals over here!

At the end of the sale, the leftovers were loaded up and taken to Goodwill. The exception being a couch that didn't sell. When J went to move the couch into our garage, it looked a little strange.
Could it be because EVERY single stuffed animal in the box was shoved under, behind and into the cushions? Hysterical!

So, J being who he is, couldn't walk away from the challenge. Hijinks ensued.

But, I'm pretty sure the neighbors and Baby Sitter got the last laugh.

Here's what we saw when we left the house this morning!







The girls thought Christmas came early.


*And because they really are awesome neighbors, it was all cleaned up when we came back home.
**But I am a little scared about what will be hidden in my house next time Baby Sitter comes over.

Sippy Cup Swingers

Em and Roo made some new friends today. We had a fun play date at the home of boy-girl twins, R & C. They were lovely and very hospitable. See Em drinking out of C's sippy cup.
C didn't even mind!

Roo took a swig out of a cup belonging to girl-girl twins, H & L (the other guests). Mostly, she wanted me to see "M.O." (Elmo) on the cup. Many times. Or she would sign "bird" and show me Big Bird's picture.


They happily shared their cups with the other twins, too.

The mamas were all chilled out about it. Very nice!
That's a major difference between hanging with singletons and, more specifically, first time moms of singletons. The twin mamas learn, early on, from the school of hard knocks to pick their battles.

As long as you don't drink Mommy's latte, you're cool. Play amongst yourselves.

Backyardigans

Might be time to buy some toddler playground equipment.
Here's what the girls used for backyard entertainment tonight.


Em playing in our planting box.

Which is due for a makeover. Into a sandbox. Sooner rather than later, I think.


Roo and Em playing "see ya here, see ya there" on both sides of our pet door.
Lots of laughs!




And Roo making the dog water bowl her own.


What IS it about that bowl?

Puppies and Piggies

Sprinkles

On a warm day a few weekends ago we let Em and Roo loose with the lawn sprinkler.
Check out the entire wet t-shirt event HERE.

We didn't stay all day

*I so wouldn't watch all of this video clip. Unless it is your most favorite song. Evah. Just wanted you to have the chorus repeating in your head, too, too, too.

This was Em's and Roo's second trip to a zoo. The first trip was almost a year ago and was not photo worthy. The girls stayed in their stroller the entire time and we just ran from one place to the next chasing Aunt Becky and their cousin.

We added our double stroller to the fray at my mothers of multiples club's annual zoo trip. They might as well have added TWINS and TRIPLETS to the exhibit flier. The stares that we got (and that I noticed the other families with multiples receiving) were hilarious.
I guess you don't normally see double that many times in a single outing.

Em and Roo took off at every opportunity. The few pictures we have of them together are from the back. As we chased them.


They enjoyed the monkeys the most, I think. It's the animal of the moment. They both do a pretty fair "ooo ooo ooo ahh ahh ooo" monkey sound. Fitting.

The lemurs were also cool and easy to spot with their bushy ringed tails waving about.

The Bengal tigers were annoying each other (we totally understand that) and giving off some mighty menacing growls.


Roo told the macaw "bye bye" and he responded back in kind. Unexpected!



Em snorted at the pig. Not oinked. Snorted.




And they both got some up close and personal time with different species of deer and antelope.


I'd like to say that we snapped all these great close ups of the zoo critters. But I can't. We were chasing our own critters. Any photo without an Em or Roo in it is compliments of our local zoo.


Next time we go, I fully expect to see a Capuchin monkey wearing this hat. Because it did not come home with us.

Blanket with a side of thumb

This is all Em would have for lunch today. Not very filling.

Milk Coma

Em is around 4 months old in this picture. I like to call it "look, Ma! no hands!"

Way Back Wednesday

Roo saying "Hi Baby" about a year ago.

The Rockin' Green Chair

The green chair was my big must-have for the nursery. It is a PB swivel rocker that I thought we'd absolutely live in during the infant stage. I would feed the girls there, soothe them to sleep, read stories and sing songs all in that chair.
I yearned after this chair. However, I was unwilling to fork over the actual retail amount, with our financial future in limbo. (hello... 2 babies at the same time and quitting my job).

But, it was meant to be. While shopping at the PB outlet store with my BFF, there it was.
Slightly marred on the removable slip cover and marked down to 1/4 of the retail price.
(After I haggled with the manager. Because I do that.)
That was 15 weeks before the girls were born.

A week later I sat in that chair, in my unfinished nursery, and sobbed.
I'd been to my OB and we discovered that Roo was having difficulties.
I had a referral to a specialist.

Weeks went by and I sat in that chair often, watching the nursery progress take place.
That chair supported a lot of prayers.
I rocked and sang to the babies and cried out to God for grace for my children.

My precious nephew and Marmee made use of the chair while the girls were still in the hospital.



A week later, Em was able to come home from the NICU.
(She proceeded Roo by 3 days)
We went directly to the green chair.
I was so happy to have her home but so sad that Roo was not.



When the girls were 13 months old, we posed for a picture in the chair.


It was Mother's Day. Our 2nd.


Gradually the green chair saw more and more use.


For a while, it held us as I lulled Roo to sleep for her nap during a difficult transition time.

In the evenings, it saw a quick snuggle while wriggly twins were readied for bed.

The afternoons often involved Em climbing up, rocking and reading a story to herself.
Or Roo using it to balance her handfuls of treasures.

But lately, we're using it as I had originally envisioned.
At night, Roo and Em climb into my lap. Content to share the space.
They clutch their Nannie Blankets.
And together, we all rock back and forth. And I sing. And we cuddle.

It is wonderful.

Thinking she likes the water table

Cult of Personality

If you feed them after midnight...





...they multiply.




*Yes, I know what these cloaks look like! They are supposed to be super cute bunny poncho/towel/robes from IKEA.
Bunnies must look different in Sweden.

**Yes, I know that in Gremlins they multiply when they get wet and transform when they eat after midnight. It suited my story line to distort the phraseology. Go with it.