Better Off Then Their Parents

The other day (before Christmas) I heard one of the Kardashians or some other person who is famous for being famous say something like that. But, the way she said it was like she wanted her kid to HAVE more then she has or had. I don't think that is the true meaning of the quote. And it sure isn't what I want for my kids.

Let me tell you about my first Christmas. The first one I remember, anyway.

I was around six years old. I did not get up early as a child and my stepmother, Beth woke me up. Or rather she bellowed from the living room for me to come out of my room. I was groggy and slightly confused. I remember walking down the hall, rubbing my eyes and suddenly my father was yelling at me. Yelling that I did not appreciate all that he did for me and that I needed to get back to my room and "DON'T COME OUT TILL YOU CAN SHOW SOME APPRECIATION!"

The following year there is a picture of me holding my hand to my chest gasping. I can see that picture in my minds eye as clear as if it were taken yesterday. I remember not seeing anything that morning, as I was just as groggy as the prior year. I surely was not going to get yelled at the same way I did last year. So I faked it.

As a child I walked on egg shells. I was always worried about getting yelled at or worse.

As a parent I try so hard to have patience. I am working daily on it.


I want my kids to have more then I had as a child. Not more stuff. Not more possessions. I want them to have more love, more understanding, more respect! I don't want them to have to experience a lot of the things I experienced and know they could careless about the material things, at least right now anyway.

Christmas "Presents"?

Leni (our Christmas puppy) has been doing great with going pee outside, but we are having a difficult time teaching her to poop outside.

Today I was telling Julie about how I found Leni sleeping in the girls room hours earlier and Avery chimed in with, "And I saw POOP!" I said, "What? You saw poop in your room?" "Avery, you have to tell us these things!" Sure enough there was puppy poop behind the chair in their room.

Not to be to graphic, but the puppy's poop is really small and doesn't smell...from a distance...

The second night we had Leni she slept through the night and woke me up at 5 am. I took her out so she could do her business. She peed. I brought her back in and put her back in her bed in the bathroom. She started wining and crying so I figured I would let her run free for the next hour seeing as how she had already peed. Then Avery got up at 6. Usually she gets in bead with us, but the puppy was running around so she wanted to play with her. I said sure. (I just wanted like 30 more minutes!) I feel back to sleep and woke up about 45 mins later to Avery hading me something and asking what it was? It felt like play-dough and it was dark. It was also dark in the room so I could not really see....I wasn't sure so I smelled it. It was puppy poop!!! I began to have a visceral reaction complete with gagging as I am trying to get out of bed to fix the horrific situation. Julie in a huff gets out of bed saying "don't be so dramatic." as she stomps off to the bathroom to get TP.

I laugh whenever I think about this cause Julie's reaction was hilarious!

Christmas Chaos and Puppies

We have a dog named Cooper, aka Pooper as the girls call him. He had a big sister and since she has been gone he has been lonely. I wanted to get him a companion but I really wanted to get him a dog younger then him, but already an adult. Julie REALLY wanted a puppy. She has a friend at work that has dachshunds who had a litter. The dad was cream like Cooper. I said if any of the puppies are cream we will get one. Lucky for me none of them were. Then they had another litter. This litter was born on October 31st AND there was a cream one born... I was doomed. Oh, and they would be available (be 8 wks old) on Christmas Eve... HELLO? How could I say no???

I picked her up Christmas Eve and brought her home. Julie told the girls that Santa had left them a package on the front steps early cause he couldn't travel with it. Her name is Leni, and I think she is going to be much more red then Cooper. Oh well.

Here is a video of the girls when they met Leni. Avery says, "I have two puppies mommy!" so cute!

As far as puppies go she has been pretty darn good. The first night she cried the whole night....it was complete torture! Then the next night she slept through the night. Since then she sleeps through the night I take her out to pee at 5am then bring her in and she goes back to sleep with us on our bed.

Christmas Eve (while I was picking Leni up) Julie, Nana and the LGs made cookies for Santa.

When we got up we made cinnamon rolls and tried to get the girls to open their stockings first. They were not interested in them they wanted to open the big presents. When we finally got to them Emerson was like an Elf in reverse. Nana called it assembly line gift opening. She would meticulously open a present look at it sit it aside and get the next present. It took a few presents to get through to her to let me read the tag FIRST! Avery opened a few presents then seemed to get a little overwhelmed and started playing with toys as Emerson opened them. For Emerson I think it was that she just HAD to know what the heck we were hiding under the paper. So she needed ALL the presents to reveal themselves before she could play with ANYthing.

There was one present they both asked Santa for when we went to visit him. They refused to sit on his lap so they stood about 3 feet in front of him and told him they wanted a Bullseye and a Stinky Pete. I got them the Bullseye, but they no longer make Stinky Pete. When Emerson got to that present from Santa she was ecstatic! Every yelled, "Where's Stinky Pete" DUH!!!

When the last present was opened Avery said, "all DONE!" walked around the christmas tree and turned the lights off on the tree. Talk about a kill-joy!

Short Order Cook?

I always said I would never be one of "those moms". You know the ones. They make a meal for the grown-up and then a meal for little Timmy, cause he doesn't like green beans. Another meal for Jessica, cause she only eats white food. By the time mom actually sits down to eat her meal is cold and she is alone at the table.

Not only is this bad for the kids because it is teaching them that if they complain enough about something mom will fix it. It just reinforces bad behavior. My other issue with it is that it limits the kids palette. I love food and want my kids to love food like I do. If they are only exposed to foods they "think" they like then they will never get to enjoy all the flavors that different cultures have to offer. Oh and Im kind of lazy and selfish. I dont want to make 3 different meals and I want to eat with my family at meal time. (btw, that last sentence was a joke/sarcasm.)

This morning however I was one of them. I now can see how it can happen. It started innocently enough. I heated up some of our dinner from last night to give the girls for breakfast this morning. (It was this breakfast bake I make that is yummy) Emerson and Avery really had no idea I was doing that. Emerson came running in the kitchen and excitedly asked for oatmeal. I told her I was heating up some of the dinner from last night and she melted down. Suddenly in my head, I am justifying making her the oatmeal. "I should have given them a choice, cause I rarely give them choices for breakfast or at meal time period. It's not that big of a deal to make some oatmeal..." so I made the oatmeal. She happily ran into the other room with it. Then Avery came in. "I want cereal, mama." "um..ok..." so I made her cereal. Again my justification was the same as before with the added, "I gave Emerson what she wanted I cant NOT give Avery what she requested."

Guess what happened next? Emerson came running into the kitchen asking for cereal... yes, in the end they both ended up eating cold cereal for breakfast and I made 3 yes THREE different breakfasts.

What did I learn today?
I need to start giving them more choices for the good stuff too. I tend to give choices for the bad stuff and that works, but they need to be able to make choices for the good stuff as well. "Those Moms" are all of us. It can happen to anyone, innocently enough.

Him Not Nice Mama

About 2 yrs ago I went into Apples to Zinnias with my friend, Wendy and the LGs. The LGs were still in a stroller. When we walked the man working there looked like he was going to blow a gasket. He followed us around and made us feel really unwelcome. I called the next day and talked to the owner. The owner was as nice as could be and apologize profusely. A week later I went in and bought the wallet I had been trying to look at when I was in there the first time.

Today I had A LOT of time to kill in Orlando so I met Wendy at Borders. After that we went to lunch, then I asked her if she wanted to go to A to Z with us. She said sure.

As we walked into the store I saw the employee behind the counter bristle as if he had just seen something that really makes him angry. I told the girls they could touch things with 2 fingers but could not pick them up. As we rounded a corner Avery came face to face with her first Christmas tree of the season. She was touch, touch, touching it. I repeated my touch but dont pick-up rule a few times. I noticed that the employee (who was still behind the counter talking to another patron) was visibly upset everytime one of the girls touched or even looked at something. He would lurch forward and make an audible noise, like he wanted to yell "STOP!!!!"

I saw that Avery was bending my rule a bit. She was taking two ornaments and "tinking" them together. Not pulling them off the tree but making them touch so that they made a pretty noise. I told her a few times to stop. She wasn't listening. In my head I thought, 'I could make her stop. then she would move on to something more expensive or I could take my chances with the $12 ornaments. ok, I would rather pay for those then something $100 that I dont want.' So I kept walking and the clerk was getting more and more upset. I was about 3 feet away from Avery with Emerson in between the two of us and the clerk yelled, "Hey, They are not listening to you!" I of course was already on edge due to the way he was acting so I turned around and realized he was the same guy from 2 yrs ago. Here is a paraphrased version of the conversation(yelling match) that happened next. I am not proud of my self for loosing my temper. I am trying to be a better role model for the girls...I do believe though that I did a lot less yelling then he did.

"Your the guy who was nasty to me the last time I was in here!"
"Probably, if you had them with you."
"Let me talk to your manager."
"Im the owner."
"I dont think so."
"I'll bet you $50, 000 I am!"
"whatever, If they break something I will pay for it."
"YES, YOU WILL PAY FOR SOMETHING IF THEY BREAK IT!"
as if the fates were listening my gentle little Emerson who was standing right in front of me picked up the ugliest ceramic reindeer ever and dropped it.
"OK, YOUR GONNA BUY THAT!"
"IT'S NOT BROKEN!!!" and it wasn't

"Emerson Avery, come on we are leaving."
"Good. (something I dont remember, but it wasn't nice)"
Avery looked at me and I said, "Come on we are not welcome here." and she started to cry (like a fit cause she did not want to leave) "No, Avery we are leaving...Wait actually cry, cry like you you've never cried before." She just looked at me like, 'what? you've never asked me to cry before...'

Im thinking I need to plan a playdate with all my Mothers of Multiples friends.

When we left I had to go sit to calm myself down and Wendy then told me he was talking about me and the girls to the other customer. Avery said, "Him not nice, Mama." I agree Avery, him not nice.

For those of you who own a business...here's a little customer service advice: If you are worried about a child breaking something all you have to do is engage the child. Talk to them about the things they are looking at. Show them other "shiny" stuff. It does two very important things. 1. It lets you keep tally of what the kid has it's grubby little hands on. 2. It gives the parent time to SHOP!!! SPEND MONEY!!!

I was in retail for over 10 yrs... I should know...

Birthday Palooza

We had the girls birthday on Halloween this year. It was great but boy was I tired by the end of they day. Party in the morning then trick or treating that evening! We had a bounce house again this year and the girls had a blast with all of their friends and family.

Here is a slide show of the Birthday Party:

"Picnik Show"

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The girls got princess outfits from thier Tanta Deb. CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!

"Picnik Show"

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Julie's dad, the girls Papa, came to visit during Birthday Palooza and took us to dinner for Julie's Birthday. We went to the original Columbia Restaurant. The girls loved the dancers, but Avery doesn't like loud noises. The dancers make a realyloud noises when they dance. Avery held her fingers in her ears and enjoyed the show. Oh, and check out the tallent of my 3 yr olds? They can hand spoons from their noses!

"Picnik Show"

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The following Saturday was Cameran's Birthday Party at Chuck E Cheese. I love CEC, really I do...I like ski-ball, I love collecting the tickets, I love feeding then to the machine that munches them up, and I love buying crappy toys with the tickets... But, after going to my first birthday party at CEC I have to say... I HATED CHUCK E CHEESE that day. They have the tables too close, they rush you through like its some sort of military drill. Some of my extended in-law family are not people I would ever choose to hang out with much less be IGNORED by... Let's just say it was not a fun time had by Patty, however I think all the kids had a good time.

"Picnik Show"

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Life Lessons

1. Potty Chairs should NOT EVER be put over your head.

This fact was learned a few wkends ago. I was sitting at the computer and I heard Julie say, "oh you have that stuck on your head." So I got up and started walking toward the bathroom. As I stood up I could see Emerson had the princess patty seat cover around her neck like a really big necklace. I walked up and tried a few times to get it off and was unsuccessful. I kind of started to panic a little and said I thought we may need to call the fire department. Emerson was completely calm and smiling the whole time, but Avery looked like she could loose it at any moment. So, Julie had us all go into the living room and sit down and try a few more times before we dialed 911. Wise choice Julie Brown! A few more tries and I was able to get it unstuck from her cranium.

2. Grab the camera EVEN if you think you may need to call 911!

I cant believe neither Julie nor I thought to grab the camera and get a picture of Emerson with the Princess Potty Seat stuck over her head!

3. Bars can be kid friendly!

I have a friend, she is also the girls swim teacher and mom of one of their friends Scout, she works at a bar as a bartender part time. She kept inviting us (kids included) to The Market on friday nights, saying it is "Kid Friendly". Another friend of mine went one friday night and reported back that they had a great time, Anna (the girls friend) included. So, I figured one friday night we could do that as our Family Fun Night. We've been twice now and the kids love it. They have live music, YUMMY pizza and the kids dance like crazy to the music.

I bet this is not the last time this photo will be taken... (no, they are not drinking anything stronger then juice)

This is Avery photo-bombing these people we do not know. Notice how they are looking at one camera and Avery is looking at ours!

The lead of the band and Emerson... Julie is concerned that this will be her future son-in-law...

4. When in doubt, wear walking shoes!

I got to go to my first NFL football game a few weeks ago. Julie's work owns like 4 seats and they give them out for rewards. We decided to take advantage of cheaper then stadium parking and park at a stripper club. One of many near the stadium. Well, the walk killed me. I was wear my usual shoes, one of my pairs of flip-flops. We got to see the Saints beat the tar out of the Bucs but it was still fun. There were some crazy people there though...one man gold leafed his whole body, a lady 2 rows above us kept drunkenly waving her boa and saying, "I can feel the breeeeeeze". Then there was the man who was wearing a flordelis on his junk...

When the girls say "Tampa Bay Bucs" it sounds like "Papa Day Ducks" cracks me up every time!

3. Dont take more kids to the bathroom then you can handle.

My limit apparently is two... Went to lunch with Christy, Randy, and Cameron at Brio a few weeks back. At the end of lunch all the kids said they had to "tee tee" so I volunteered to take them all. We get in there and I put Cam on the potty first. He is taking forever, and I notice Emerson is holding herself and hopping around, so I pull her jumper down and put her on another potty. I walk back to Cam and switch him for Avery (seems like everything is going great right?) After putting avery on the potty I turn to help Emerson off her potty and see that she has peed on her ENTIRE outfit. You see, commercial toilets are really big and little girls cant get very far back on them without falling in so the stream goes right over the bowl and hits the clothes around the ankles. She had on a jumper...neck to shorts, wet.

As I am looking through my bag I see Avery trying to open the exit door. She is buck-a$$ neked...why neked and not naked? Cause neked is being naked and upto no good! I tell her NOT to exit the bathroom and turn my attention back to Emerson who is now also naked and crying in ball on the bathroom stall floor. I tell her all I have is a t-shit and a new pair of underwear for her too wear. She cries more. I turn around to see Avery dancing NEKED in the middle of the bathroom. Cameron was just kind of sitting back and watching the show.

Emerson left the restaurant in panties and a t-shirt.

4. Smaller is sometimes better.

We took the kids to an organic pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. We picked out 2 nice big ones to buy. On the way out the girls saw these "tiny little pumpkins" that they wanted. I told them we would buy some at publix cause they were too expensive and we dont need organic cause we wont actually eat the tiny ones. They talked about "tiny little pumpkins" non stop for like 4 days. Then Julie came home from the store with some TLP and you would have thought she brought them a pony!

Embarrassing But Funny

I'm totally willing to embarrass myself to get a laugh...this is a good and a bad thing cause I'm also willing to share my embarrassment with the world.
Yesterday Emerson was getting "gawk" and I asked her if there would ever come a day she would not want gawk. She said no. I said, "so you will be going off to collage and still getting gawk?" She said, "no". So I asked if she was going to go to kindergarten still getting gawk? "yes"....oh, ok... I then started asking her other questions about her "gawk"

Is there still gawk in there?

yes

Does it come out pretty fast still?

yes

At that point I decided to see for myself so I hand expressed on the other boob and much to my surprise I squirted milk across the room.

Later that evening when the girls were getting their bath, I told Julie about this and she said, "really? prove it hit the wall." Not one to back away from a challenge I whipped em out and while I was concentrating on getting a good trajectory I looked up and realized the giggling toddlers in front of me were trying to catch the milk in their mouths like this was some weird fountain and they thought this was hysterical. Well, and so did I.

Hide & Seek

I had the idea to teach the girls how to play hide and seek this afternoon. It was about the most fun I've had in years!

Firstly, let me just say that almost 3 year olds are really crappy at this game, but boy do they love it.

The first round I was the seeker (by my self) and Julie helped them hide. Then we let them hide them selves for a few rounds. This is what proved to be the most amusing as they hide in the same 2 places each time, but switched who was in each spot each time. The two spots were their closet, and face down in "the hole". After that we split them up one with the seeker and one with the hider. They loved doing both, but we had to help them hide for the above reason. So it was me with the hider and Julie with the seeker. I would help whom ever I had hide, then hide myself . I tried to do a pretty good job with the hiding of the little person I had, like one time I put Avery in a laundry basket and covered her with the stuff that had been in the basket. The only thing that made this a fruitless effort was the constant giggle coming from whatever clever spot I had hid them in.

The best was the times that the three of them could not find me. Because I would hide after I hid the other hider they would get found first (the giggling) then they would also help the seekers try to find me. The first time they could not find me I had hid behind their door in their room. Emerson walked right past me to look in her closet, and did not see me. I was laughing so hard I was crying and biting my finger trying not to make any noise. The next time I was in our shower stall up against the wall. Julie told Emerson to check our bathroom and she just poked her head in and said, "No" She didn't walk in and turn around. OMG we had so much fun!

After the games where over Julie said, "Did you know Emerson can count to 20?" "Um, no... I knew they both could count to 10 with no help" Julie said Emerson counted to 20 with no problem when they were seeking.

"Furniture is not for ????"

If you say that to the girls they will enthusiastically say, "CLIMBING!!"

We learned this lesson the hard way, unfortunately...

The other day I caught them trying to climb onto their dresser. I told them that they needed to get down and that they should not climb on their furniture or they could fall and get hurt.

The very next day I put them down for their "rest" and they proceeded to play in their room. They do this every day for about an hour then they put themselves back to bed and take a 2 hour nap. If I hear one of them crying I go in to see what's happening, usually it is Avery and Emerson has a toy she wants or Emerson is laying on her because Emerson wants to "sleep in the hole" (the hole is the two to four inch space where the two toddler beds meet.) On this day I hear Avery crying and I head in there. When I open the door the first thing I see is Avery laying on the floor with one of the dresser drawers on her. The second thing I see is Emerson is sitting on the dresser. I start to scold them for climbing on the furniture while walking toward Avery to pluck the drawer off of her. I took two steps and said, " See, this is why we dont..." That's when Avery's head starts bleeding... A LOT! "OK, never mind. It will be ok, Avery." I tossed the drawer aside and scooped Avery up off the floor. At this point her head is a steady stream of blood. I ran her into the kitchen. This is when Emerson starts crying. I put Avery on the counter by the sink and put the kitchen sponge on her head... pretty sure this is not the most sanitary of wound care, but I was in a panic and this was the first absorbent thing I found.

Avery stops crying, the hole in her head stops bleeding, Avery started telling me, "It's ok, Mommy." You would think that this is where I would start to calm down, but I couldn't cause Emerson was STILL crying. She was scared so I was trying to get her to calm down so that I could get us all ready to go to the ER.

I ran into their room to get them some clothes, because these kids are ALWAYS naked when they are home. They had trashed their room so I just grabbed two outfits off the floor. Dressed them and threw them into the car. As I am trying to get the clothes on them Avery is now telling me, "it's ok, mommy. I just need some ice. Can I have some ice?" Oh, Emerson is still crying like she was stabbed. At one point I think I might have yelled at her, "You weren't the one that got hurt! The one that got hurt isn't crying. Please for the love of all that is holy stop crying!" then I felt bad... "I'm sorry, Emmy. Please stop crying I have to drive all of us to the ER. Your sister is fine. I promise." At this point I think I may have started crying...

They put a little glue on it and she is as good as new. The next time you see her say, "The furniture is NOT for what?" I will bet you ANYTHING she (and Emerson) will yell, "CLIMBING!"

Story Telling

Yesterday we went to a party at Graham's house where one of his mommies did a dramatic reading of How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long. She did a great job and all the kids had a great time. After she did her reading Katy (Graham's other mommy) took them on a treasure hunt in the back yard. The treasure was a small pirates chest filled with candy.

Stories have been a big part of our life lately.

Avery loves the story of Snow White. The other day she wore her Snow White costume when we went to a Le Lache League meeting and this morning she insisted on putting it on first thing. She was sitting on our bed and started telling me the story of SW. She said, "I Snow White, I eat apple, I goes to sleeps, I gets kiss, I wakes up." then she said, "I hear hi hoes." She calls the seven dwarfs Hi Hoes. How cute is that?

At night for their bed time routine now Julie and I lay with them and each of us tell one story. They pick what the story will be about then Julie and I make it up as we go along. These kids love stories. I love that they love stories.

They love for me to read to them when they nurse. Before they "take a rest" they each pick a book and I read them to them as they get their "gawk", then we do that again before our bedtime routine. What I think is cool is that they rarely pick the same book. Most toddlers have one or two favorite books and those are the ONLY books they will alow their parents to read. Not the LGs they pick different books almost every time. Emerson especially. Avery right now is in an Olivia kick and insist on one of the many Olivia books she has. That kid loves Olivia. Emerson love all books and picks a different one every time.

Why Oh Why?

We have entered the "WHY?" stage with Avery. She can ask why until you want to bang your head into a wall. Emerson is still ok with whatever answer you give her and she moves on. Avery was like that too, till just this week.

Here is an example conversation between Avery and I as we were getting out of the shower:
Me, "I'm going to turn off the water now."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "Because we are done with our shower."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "because we are clean."
Avery, "why?"
Me, "We are no longer dirty."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause we took a shower."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause we were dirty."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Because...(sigh) we had a 24 hr period of non showering."
Avery, "Why?"
I think I lost consciousness at this point cause I really do not remember what I said next.

We have though, found a way to make this a little more amusing for us. At dinner tonight we gave the girls the option of sitting at the table with us or eating at the little table cause Snow White was playing on TV. Avery choose to sit with us and Emerson sat at the little table.

Avery, "Why is Snow White screaming?"
Me, "Because she was scared?"
Avery, "Why?"
Julie, "Because the woodsman tried to kill her."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Snow White's mother told him to."
Avery, "Why?"
Julie, "CAUSE GIRLS ARE MEAN!"
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "Cause her step mother was jealous."
Julie, "Girls are mean."
Avery, "Why?"
Me, "I don't know. Why don't you ask your sister."
Avery, "Emerson, why are girls mean?"
Emerson, (we could not see her, but we could hear her.) "I don't know."
Avery, "Why?"
Emerson, "I DON'T know, AVERY." in a deadpan but slightly annoyed voice.

I was almost falling off my chair laughing. Apparently Emerson has been dealing with this too. Poor Emerson. I feel bad for her, but I will be doing that again!

Positive Parenting Rubs Off

So just when you think your kids aren't paying attention to anything you do or say, something happens to make you realize you were sooooo wrong!


Today we went to visit a sick friend of the girls. He isn't contagious so we thought we would give him some entertainment while he is house bound.


While there Emerson and he were playing independently beside each other and Emerson reached over and took something that was in his play area. It really pissed him off so he got a little aggressive and was trying to take it back from her. She was acting as if he did not exist. He mom removed him from the situation and told him to go apologize to Emerson. He promptly walked over to the toys and started winging them at Emerson. She still just sat there playing as if nothing was happening. I assumed she was unaware of what was gong on. His mom picked him up again and made him sit with her for a few moments then told him to go say he was sorry. This time he walked over and said, "Im sorry." and Emerson said, "ok."

She knew the whole time what was going on and she was ignoring his bad behavior. Funny thing is it did not occur to me that that was what she was doing till the other mom pointed out, "she's doing what you do. Ignoring the bad behavior."

She did not lash out at him, she did not even leave the room. He was not hurting her, so she just sat there and acted as if he was not even in the room.

Weekend Shenanigans

Saturday we went to Lowes to do a project with the kids. They loved it! It was a little unnerving to have a bunch of toddlers wielding hammers.

When we got there we were the first to arrive...of course! We are always early to every.thing. So we walked around for a bit and then finally decided to get started even though the other families that were suppose to meet us had not arrived. The next group of parents and kids to arrive just happen to be another lesbian couple with their 2 boys. They sat at our table. Then Pam and Katy showed up. Now it looked like a lesbian parents meet up... Hey, great idea!!! What dyke doesn't love Lowes?

Finally Uncle Randy and Aunt Christy came with Cameron. Oh, well there went our gay theme... ok, maybe not. The girls do love to call Chris Uncle Christy.

Julie "helping" Avery. If you look closely you can see that she is trying to hammer two nails at one time...

Avery in her safety goggles

Total focus! Notice there is no nail though...

Avery showing off her ALMOST finished dog leash holder:

The finished products:

After our project at Lowes we all decided to go to Ricks for lunch. The kids had a great time and the grown-ups had fun too!

Emerson and Cameron:

Avery performing with her air guitar!

"I dont want to take a nap..."

The other day I said something about it being almost nap time, and Avery started crying that she did not want to take a nap. After half heatedly arguing with her I finally said, "OK, you dont have to take a nap. Just lay down and rest." She instantly said, "OK."

Everyday since then when I say it's time to get ready for nap she says, "I dont want to take a nap. I just rest." and then they both take a two hour "rest" complete with snoring. Cracks me up!

Lost And Found

Met some friends yesterday morning at the Aquarium. Katy with Graham and Meagan with Anna and her new little sister Charlotte. We had a great time looking at the fish, turtles, alligators and otters. I actually felt that this was the first time the LGs actually engaged in the observation of the sea life at the Aquarium. Us usually they look, but aren't that IN TO them.

After making our way through the inside of the aquarium we decided to let the kids play in the water outside. When we went to the area we were going to sit while the kids played Katy stood in a line of ants and was getting stung. She and I worked on getting her ant free. Once she was no longer being bitten by them she looks up and say, "ok, now I'm off to find my son." The rest of the kids are hanging around us or in the sandbox in front of us. She and I head out in search of Graham. What seemed like forever passes and no Graham. There are not that many people there so it shouldn't have been hard to find him. It was really scary. We actually had to get the staff to help and Katy finally went up these two flights of stairs to get an over head view of the play area...and that's where she found him. THANK GOD!!!

It was close to lunch time. The rest of our friends had left. The LGs and I decided to eat lunch there outside. When the girls finished eating they headed out to play some more. I saw that they went around this corner and I knew they were going to play on the stage back there. I knew where they were so I figured I would finish my lunch pay the bill then go get them and we would go home. As I was finishing up Avery wondered up without Emerson. I asked her where her sister was and she didn't say anything. I walked around the corner and Emerson was not on the stage.

With Avery hot on my heals I started searching for Emerson. Couldn't finder wasted no time asking for help. As an employee and I rounded a corner we see her walking and two other employees walking beside her trying to talk to her. She was eyeing them suspiciously. She ran and jumped into my arms. The employees said they could tell she was lost, but she wouldn't talk to them. So I told her that if she is ever lost again she should look for someone with a badge and tell them she is lost. As I was telling her this I am heading back to the table to pay the check. I turn around and Avery is no longer behind me. I look around and she is MISSING! You have to be SH!TTING ME!!! As I start my search for her (with Emerson IN MY ARMS!) A strange man walks up to be and asks if I am looking for the other little girl that looks like "this one" as he points to Emerson. He tells me she is in the gym slide area by the door...OY!

The Tortoise And The Hare

After we got back from our vacation in Clearwater we had a few days home before Mom (Julie) had to go back to work. We decided to go to our little beach that Friday. It was great there was NO ONE there. We had the beach all to our selves and no one was whining they wanted to go home!!!!

Julie took them hunting for Nemo while I hung out under the umbrella reading. Then we looked up and saw black clouds rolling in. We started packing up slowly. As we got the last stuff onto the wagon it started raining. It was a combination of that hard sideways rain that stings and drops that were about the size of dimes.

It's a pretty good walking distance to the car from the beach. As soon as the rain started Emerson and I took off running like we were being chased. As a matter of fact Emerson screamed, "Get me out of here!" I realized that Julie had the keys so I turned around to get them from her cause I knew Emerson and I would be first to the car and it would be all for not if we had to stand there and wait. When I turned around I realize that Julie and Avery are not right behind us, but extremely far behind us. So much so that I had to run back to her. As I get closer to them I see (cause I couldn't see them for the sideways rain!) and hear Julie trying to convince Avery to step it up. When I look at Avery she looks like she is taking a walk in the park. She has a juice box and is literally strolling down the side walk as if nothing is going on. It was hysterical and I don't think words can describe how funny this scene was.

Yesterday Julie and I needed to have a serious "grown up" discussion. We needed to talk about what Julie was going to do with her new job situation. Our cousin Christy was her with her son Cameron. So she was trying to get all the kids into the house so Julie and I could be alone on the back patio to talk. Emerson and Cameron were happy to go inside for her, but Avery was down right refusing. She was kind of running circles around Chris while Chris tried to bribe her with candy, soda, movie, a new car? Finally Julie and I said, "Don't worry about it, let her stay out here with us." So Chris walks into the house and Avery closes the door behind her walks back out to us and says, "sorry guys..." complete with exasperated hand gestures.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted...

This was NOT being sung by the LGs...

We went to Clearwater Florida for 4 nights. The first day we were there Avery kept saying she wanted to "go home". Um, sorry sweetie but this vacation is already paid for and we are taking it whether you like it or not.

On day two it was Emerson's turn to be homesick and continue her sisters anthem. We hung out at the pool for most of the day. The hotel was not ON the beach it was on the water but not on the beach. You had to take a trolley, car or hotel van to go to a beach.

Emerson not "happy" and wanting to go home:

Avery wearing her Mom's shirt:

We figured we would have a beach day on Monday. The girls had not taken a nap the day before due to us getting to the hotel so late. So when nap-time rolled around they were not happy about it. They were being crabby and ill tempered. After saying it was nap-time Emerson was saying she wasn't tired and did not want to nap and Julie said, "well, you sure seem tired cause your not happy." For the rest of the vacation whenever it was time to go to bed Emerson would start saying, yelling, screaming or (the best) crying, "I HAAAAPPPY!!!!" over and over again. Funny and cute the first time. Annoying beyond anything you could imagine the 10,000th time.

Emerson:

Mommy and Emerson:

On Monday we got up and started packing for our beach day. Avery promptly told us she did not want to go to the beach she wanted to go to the pool. We had it in our mind that despite her protests she would have a good time once we got to the beach...We have never been so wrong.

When we finally got to the beach Avery whined. the. whole. time. we were there. We only stayed maybe an hour before we decided it just wasn't worth it and went back to the hotel so they could swim in the pool.

On Tuesday we rented a cabana for the day and played in the pool most of the day. I think I only heard one or two "I wanna go home" statements on that day.

On Wednesday we told Avery, joyfully that we would be going home. She cried, "NOOOOOO!!!"

The best part of vacation was that Emerson potty trained herself while we were there. She told us she needed to "tee tee" so we set her on the potty and she went pee. We gave her a maraschino cherry (her favorite) every time she peed on the potty and since we have been home she has been wearing panties and has only had like 2 accidents. I'm so proud of her. I knew she would do it when she was ready and the weird thing is I remember thinking before we went on vacation that she would probably start wanting to use the potty while we were on vacation. So strange that I was right!

Avery:

Emerson swimming. You can always tell if it is Emerson cause she always has her goggles on:

Emerson coming up for air while swimming:

Avery swimming. This kid LOVES to swim!

Parks, Parks, and More Parks

We have been very busy lately, so much so that Avery asked me if we could stay home today. So we did. I made it a "No TV" day though. This made the day harder on me then them...oh well, I hate seeing them parked in front of the TV.
We played with play dough, doll house, played in the little pool and colored.

They have 2 new TV obsessions right now. Monsters Inc. and Toy Story 1 and 2. They could watch either of those three movies all day every day.

Last week I took them to Dell Holmes splash pad with their friend Graham. They aren't as big a fans of the splash pads as they were last year. Now, if it isn't an actual body of water they are not as keen on it. I had to get in with them for them to finally start playing in the water. They enjoyed the jungle gyms though!

Then a few days later we went to Kate Jackson and they enjoyed THOSE jungle gyms... We were actually there to meet up with some other moms, but I was the only one that showed. The meet up was for the splash area.... I could not talk them into it. (you would think I would have figured out they weren't that into splash pads at this point...I didn't)

Last Saturday I took them to ANOTHER splash pad. This one was in Zephyr-hills about 50 minutes away. This is where I finally caught on... they wanted to play on the jungle gyms and not the splash pad. I could have saved my self about 45 minutes of driving and taken them to Kate Jackson park... Sometimes Im pretty slow :) BUT, it was nice seeing a bunch of our twinky friends.

Floss Is Very Important

Especially when you want to give it to a friend...

Today we had a play-date with Graham. Katy and I planned to take the kids to a free movie. Of course it wasn't completely free as we had to get popcorn, soda, and twizzlers. That's how they getcha!

This morning when I was getting the girls ready to leave Avery gathered some floss sticks and announced that we had to bring them. Thinking to myself, the child is a genius cause we will be having popcorn. I said sure. She then proceeded to tell me who the floss sticks were for. "one for me, one for Emmy, one for Graham."

As we were backing out of the driveway about an hour later Avery started yelling, "My Sauce! MY SAUCE!!!" I continued to back out of the drive and head down the road trying to decipher what she was saying. "Your socks? Your sauce?" She would say no or yes but still continue to cry and pleading with me to go back and get her sauce. HUGE elephant tears streaming down her face. As we were getting on the Veterans it dawned on me...HER FLOSS! So I asked her, "your floss?" She said, "YES!!! go back and get it." I kept trying to tell her we could live without it and could have some when we got home. She was still crying. She wanted to give some to Graham... I finally calmed her by telling her that when we got home I would put a hand full of them in my bag so we would never be without floss. This is how my day started...

I am really bad about uploading my little camera into the computer. I will take pics with it for a few weeks or more and then finally remember to up load them. I did this today and discovered some interesting things on it. One thing is the girls have started taking my camera out of my bag and actually taking pictures. There were a lot of floor and wall pictures but there were some that were kind of interesting too. I thought I would share:

This picture is Avery taking a picture of herself in a mirror:

I did not take this picture... Avery did. Im pretty impressed!

Beach Day...NO PICS!

Had to get the girls out of the house today. Yesterday all I did was take them to Walmart. That's not enough and their nap yesterday was non existent. I decided I was going to take them to the beach.

We had a really good time just me and the LGs, with the exception of some miss steps. I took them to the bay, just for convenience. It wasn't little beach (Citrus Park Beach) though. It was Ben T Davis Beach.

We got there and it was nice and windy so I thought we could try flying the kites. It was perfect kite flying weather! Avery was holding the kite and I wanted to get a picture...grabbed the camera, turned it on 'no memory card'. DAMN IT! Alas, no pictures were taken.

The girls made friends with an older girl and they played together for a while. At one point I thought I would get out the kites again so the 3 of them could enjoy them. I was getting the kite started (looking up, not paying attention to the 3 girls below) as I was going to hand it to one of the girls I looked down at the ground to see a pair of swim suit bottoms. Yes, one of my kids were standing there buck-ass-naked ready to fly a kite. It was Avery...as if I needed to tell you... The first words out of my mouth were, "who got naked!?!" The girl they had friended proceeded to tell me that Avery had peed. I washed her and her swim bottoms off in the ocean and made her put them back on.

Then as we were leaving I saw something orange on my windshield...PARKING TICKET!!! $30 Apparently you have to pay at this beach... crap!

Playdate 3 yrs in the making...

I have a few friends I have made over the years that I have never ever met face to face. I have met them on message boards of one kind or another. One message board is Sheknows. There are boards for parents that have kids born in the same year. This one board I have been on since I was pregnant with the girls. So, some of these women I have known for about three yrs now.

One of the moms just moved a little over an hour away so we wanted to get the kids together for a play date.

This morning I was telling them what we were going to do for the day. I said we were going to meet new friends, Elise, her mommy Amy and Elise's brother Brody. Avery repeated every name back to me and when I got to Brody she said, "And Plex?" Plex is a character on Yo Gabba Gabba. Brody sounds a lot like Brobee, the little green one. No Avery we are not going to Yo Gabba Gabba land.

Turns out I had Elise's little brother's name mixed up with another little brother on this board... oh well, I'm chalking it up to twin mommy brain! For the record his name is Beckett... and he is a cutie!

The girls and I had a great time playing at their house. The swam, ate sandwiches and watermelon, spilt apple juice, had accidents, and wrestled over a doll. A great time was had by all...