School Year Wrap Up

Somehow we've been out of school for a week now, and have had a great start to our summer. But I have to say, we're going to miss 1st grade. Bub had an amazing year, and an even more amazing teacher, Mrs. Faddis. She really got Bub and his personality, and was always able to find ways to motivate him (which isn't always easy). He absolutely adored her, and mentions frequently how much he's going to miss having her for a teacher. We begged her to loop with us next year : ), but I suppose we'll find an equally amazing teacher next year.

We put together a picnic "recipe" for Mrs. Faddis for the end of the year present. She has 5 grandsons!, so I put a big bottle of bubbles in a sand bucket and made 5 Thomas the Train place mats for them to use when they're at Grandma's. And for a special treat for Mrs. Faddis, we added a Panera gift card. Bub was really excited to give her the present!

After our last half day of school, we invited our neighborhood friends over for a picnic. It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of summer!

Because who doesn't love to eat outside???

Even if we're just relaxing and lounging between courses.

Thomas the Train Book

Even though we are fully obsessed with trains around here, we're a little lacking on train themed books in our house. So, last night, I threw together a couple of Thomas books for the boys. I just pulled a few pictures off the Thomas website and covered them with contact paper to add some strength. Although, after watching them "flip" through them for the first 5 minutes, I'm not sure the contact paper is going to help us for very long!

Happy Easter

We hope your family had a wonderful, blessed Easter weekend; our house certainly did. We spent a wonderful weekend enjoying time with family, church friends, and, of course, some fun presents.

Egg dyeing went better than I expected. No eggs were harmed in the process, and the newspaper soaked up most of the "stirring" process. The boys were thoroughly intrigued by eggs turning colors.

We had done several practice runs with empty eggs, so imagine the delight when there were puffs and yogurt melts in the eggs the Easter Bunny left!

Str-e-e-e-e-tch!

Best puffs ever!

The Easter Bunny brought Thing 1 and Thing 2 Elmos. They haven't left their sides since. So, Thing 1's hands are getting awfully full because he's my collector. At any given time, his hands are full with rhino, Elmo, his dog (woof, woof) and a train engine or two.

I love that S caught Thing 1 in perfect running form.

My three loves.

A little post-nap viewing of "Tangled" that the Easter Bunny brought us.

When did this happen? Where did my baby go, and who is this big boy?

More Choo Choos

S managed to capture a few quiet moments of Thing 1 with his choo-choos. It's definitely true love.

This might be one of my favorite pictures ever. You can just see the adoration in his eyes and the wheels turning about what to do next with his best friends.

My Helpers

There comes a time in a mother's life, when her kiddos step up and say "let me help you with that."

For me, that time came in the form of Thing1 and Thing 2 saying, "Mommy, don't worry, we'll feed Bubba's fish for him."

It was really so thoughtful of them. They wanted to make sure Glub, Glub was taken care of and had enough food to last him for at least the next 6 months.

And then they figured, why should Glub, Glub get all the love. Doesn't the carpet deserve a little fish food too? Such thoughtful, loving boys I have ; ).

Feeding My Boys

Most people who know me, know I love to bake - with some cooking thrown in there. That love is probably a bigger reason for me being on Weight Watchers than giving birth to twins. But I do love it; and I love providing my family with food they love and is good for them, for the most part (I mean, I can't really claim that soft, buttery pretzels fresh from the oven are really good for us).

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across this website, Tastebook, where you can design your own cookbook and enter all of your own recipes. So, you end up with a fully customized cookbook with just the recipes you want/use. I, of course, had to have it! My wonderful hubby got me a gift card to the site for Christmas, so I could design our family cookbook. I was ecstatic!!

Well, then my business took off, we got pregnant with twins, we moved, we had twins...

But I finished it! Not until last night, but I finished it and sent it to the printer! It's a great site, easy to use, and the book looks amazing. You have the opportunity to choose your cover and title, and add a dedication page with a picture if you want. The cookbook is tabbed by categories for easy finding. And, even if you don't fill it up on the first printing, you won't be wasting your money. The price point I ordered allows for 50 recipes (the books hold 100), but I only entered 30 recipes to get started. The great thing is, I don't lose those other 20 recipe spaces. They simply credit my account for 20 recipes that I can order at a future time and add to my book. Genius!!

I cannot wait to receive our cookbook and start using it. Each time I use a recipe, I know I will be cooking a meal I selected especially for my boys. And I'm sure that will make it taste even better!

They're 2, they're 4, they're 6...

Thomas Fever has hit our house like...well, like a freight train. Thing 1 is over the moon with all things trains, or "choo choo" as they're known around here. Thing 2 likes them because "big" brother does.

Several hundred times a day, I hear a sweet voice professing "choo choo" as he's either playing with a long train on a track, building a track, or simply carrying around one of his engines. At this very moment, Edward is napping with Thing 1, and has been at his side since 8:00 this morning.

Good Things Come in Twos

Raising twin toddlers is interesting, extremely fun, and exhausting...all in the same day. Each day I get to see them interact more and more with each other and watch their friendship develop.

Just for the record, we do dress better than this. But we had Kindermusik on this night, so we waited until moments before class to actually put on our nice, clean jeans. Until then, comfy pj pants did the job.

They definitely believe they are a matching set that should always be together. If one sleeps longer than the other, the awake Thing will wander around every so often looking for his missing Thing. And when they hear the other Thing wake up on the monitor, I better be ready to rush up to rescue him, because the awake Thing has a fit until I do! The best is when I walk down the stairs with the missing Thing and they both simply start giggling to see each other.

As different as they can be, personality wise, they are simply two peas in a pod who do their best playing with their best friend close by.

My loves.

Glub, Glub, Glub

Bub has had fish (only 1 is still with us) for a year or so now, so one of the boys' favorite "animal" sounds is a fish. Whenever they see a fish, we hear "glub, glub."

When we started having fish fillets as one of our lunch options, they would respond in favor by saying "glub, glub."

And now one of our favorite snacks is Goldfish, which is also met with a rousing, "glub, glub, mo (more)."