memories

In loving memory of our beloved Gramcracker

June 12, 1923 - March 29, 2012

i made something

Sometimes I just need a project. While staying home with kids is certainly the most challenging job I've had so far, I sometimes need something to do that produces an almost immediate output so that I can somehow feel a sense of satisfaction at a job well done.

So I set out on a DIY project. Me and a DIY project don't typically go well together, as I tend to get impatient and expect things to go smoother than they actually do. I also tend to be hard on myself with the finished product because I don't feel I execute it that well. I wouldn't call myself a creative person in the least, so working on 'creative' projects is really challenging for me. But, while I always think I could have done better, I'm typically satisfied when I'm through. 

The girls have been into Legos lately, and after seeing a Lego table at a friend's house (and not wanting to spend $200+ on a Lego table, yikes!), I set out to make one with an old end table we had in the garage. 

While it's not very big, I think it turned out well! I don't have a before picture, but all I did was paint it red and glue the flat Lego pieces to the top and one to the bottom. So far it's worked well and it looks great in the play room.

And since that project was so easy, I decided to tackle more painting. The girls have random pieces of my old furniture from when I was a kid. I had painted it all white a long time ago and the pieces were beginning to show their wear and tear. Plus, I thought that it might be fun for the girls to have some bright pieces in their room. 

I chose pink and green for Little Bird's pieces. It looks great with her pink rug, green curtains and yellow walls. She says she loves it. I wasn't super happy with the result of the dresser. I wish I would have painted all the drawers the same instead of opposites. It was also challenging to use both colors on the drawers and you can see my mistakes that I couldn't fix. On the other hand, I am quite pleased with the bookcase!

In Little Pie's room I used two shades of purple and it really looks good. Her end table didn't turn out as well as I thought since there is too much intricate detail for my lack of skills. It's a good thing that it sits in the corner. The book/toy shelf turned out pretty well. I had to be a little creative with the back of the inside since it was a cheap cardboard piece that I couldn't paint. Instead I taped some wrapping paper to it and I think it works. 

I think I've satisfied my need for satisfaction!

Happy Birthday Spiderman!

aka, Daddy!

hilarious flashback

...the girls found their Halloween costumes from 2010.

Someone grew really tall!

...which prompted us to look at old pictures to see how big they've grown.

...which prompted us to look even further back to really see how big they've grown.

...and since we were reminiscing, we had to watch some old videos. We watched a bunch in the 18 month to 26 month age range. These two had me in stitches.

...which prompted the girls to ask a lot of questions.

1. Is that me? Is that me? Is that me?

2. Why don't I have any hair?

3. Why am I using the blue ball when yellow is my favorite color?

4. What number am I? (meaning, how old am I)

5. Am I holding my bunny? Where's my frog!?!

6. Why am I wearing those bracelets? (does anybody remember Little Bird's "bracelet" obsession?)

7. Where are you Mom? (couldn't somebody else take a video once in a while?!)

...which prompted me to make some fun observations.

1. 18 months to 22 months was a really fun age. It's the bridge between the physically exhausting stage and the mentally exhausting stage.

2. I cannot believe the language explosion between 18 months and 2 years. 

3. They really did go a long time without much hair.

4. It's surprising how the girls personalities are evident at such a young age.

5. They really always have loved being around each other.

...which prompted us to have a hilarious afternoon!

winter? not this year!

I guess no one around here needs to be reminded that this has been the craziest (in a good way!) winter that any of us can remember. Minimal snow (which we were fortunate to miss, twice), a brown Christmas, no below zero highs, only one snow day, and no need to wear the "big" winter coat. 

But to have summer in March is crazy!

We have certainly gone all out to enjoy these unusual 75 degree days. (Little Pie has asked no less than 20 times if we can get our pools out in the backyard. Well, it's not that hot!).

I'm finally catching up on the blog, so here is what we have been doing to enjoy this weather! (some of my pics are from my phone so that's why they look different)

First, we had to get our nails ready for no mittens and bare feet.

We continue with swimming lessons, and since the girls swam in Arizona, their instructor has noticed a lot of improvement (namely, less fear and caution or more willingness to try things by themselves).

Trying on Mommy's running shoes and proclaiming, "when I get bigger, I can run with you."

Scooters. Of course.

Making and frosting yummy Easter cookies (that are oh so bad for us).

Playing outside for hours with friends (and stopping for a cookie snack).

Tending to babies that enjoy the sun as much as we do.

Taking the babies for walks.

Kicking, throwing and catching the only ball that didn't deflate over the winter. (must get to store for new balls!)

Taking Uncle Rye up on his offer to MAKE.US.DINNER. with his new grill. First we had to climb on the last snow pile left in Minnesota.

Little Bird sang songs the entire time we were in Uncle Rye's front yard. She loves to sing made up words or to sing a description of what she is doing at the moment.

And Little Bird had to give Grandpa Bob a lot of hugs and snuggles before he headed back to Arizona.

We made St. Patrick's Day hats.

And wore them the next day while eating lunch OUTSIDE.

We've been having our own March Madness going on on the deck.

And I was able to run the Get Lucky 7k race in Minneapolis this morning in short sleeves! We even got to enjoy our Finnigans beer OUTSIDE at The Local.

Even though this weather is unusual and there is still a possibility we could be shoveling snow before the "real" summer starts, we are enjoying every minute soaking up the sun! (and maybe even developing some tan lines!)

 

Two of everything?

Many people, upon learning we have twin girls, ask me if we have to buy two of every toy. I like to think that we don't, but after cleaning out the garage this (unusually) beautiful Sunday, I see that we do!

Arizona Part 2

You can see part 1 here.

For the second part of our trip, we headed over to the Carefree/Cave Creek area to stay with Nana, Papa and Uncle Drew. They also had a pool at their place, so the first thing we did was swim. It ended up being our only time in the pool because the weather did not cooperate. For the rest of the week, we saw below normal temps and crazy wind. The girls were very disappointed and asked several times to go swimming, but in the end they still had a ton of fun.

The girls thought the putting green was their own golf course.

Oops, lost her grip!

We spent the next day at the Phoenix Zoo. It was a cool day, but the sun kept us warm and everyone enjoyed the animals. 

I have two things that I must do while in Arizona, hike and hot tub. Rob and I went on some great hikes with Papa. We started with Black Mountain.

We climbed to the top!!

We also went on a four hour hike around (yes around) Elephant Mountain.

The trail went in between these peaks.

The girls met us at the end of our hike. They had been exploring the creek and collecting more rocks.

Our last hike was Tom's Thumb. Brenda and Lobo joined us and we had quite the adventure taking a "different" trail back down.

It was cold and windy!

Each day we hiked, the girls would spend time with Nana and Uncle Drew playing games and puzzles, playing at parks or hanging with Magramma and Boompa.

We got a chance to relax at Brenda's house, fireplace, dinner and relaxation.

Last year, we told the girls that they couldn't touch the cactus. But then Brenda was doing something in her garden and touched a cactus. So then we had to say that just Brenda could touch the cactus. This year Brenda found the girls a cactus that was safe to touch.

Pool is too cold to swim in, but still fun to splash in.

Lobo was tired.

Checking out a new Arizona book.

 

I practiced with my zoom lens a bit...

We can't believe how fortunate we are to be able to take such a wonderful vacation. We thank Nana, Papa and Uncle Drew for giving us such a fun time. The girls will have so many wonderful memories of trips to Arizona.