For your viewing pleasure

We drove around to look at christmas lights and stopped here to ride the train and admire all the decorations.  While we were driving Ellie was singing all sorts of Christmas songs so I caught Jingle Bells on video with my phone.  Then Kate needed to sing for me as well, but she chose to sing the ABCs.  I love that LMNOP to Kate is "I'm a little pea"  :)  The third video is just the girls playing doctor together.  They love to play house, school, doctor, grocery store, etc.

Just some cute Jack

I love the little bit of time I get with just Jack before the girls wake up from their nap :)

K & E are 3!

My fun, silly, sweet, girlies are 3 years old!  I cannot believe how they have transformed into little people all of a sudden.  The things they say crack me up.  Kate and Ellie have finally accepted that they are twins and will be together a lot, so they may as well get along.  In the last 6 months they have really started to play and pretend together so much more.  I love seeing their friendship grow, and most of the time when you ask them they will say they are eachothers' best friend.  One time that I wish they would play together less is nap and bedtime.  Ellie and Kate are still in their cribs and never try to climb out, so we are in no hurry to switch to big girl beds.  While they are in their room together they spends hours playing, talking, singing, and tossing their babies and stuffed animals back and forth.  Tonight I was watching them on the monitor and they were playing picnic and trying to spread a blanket across their two beds to make a table.  They didn't settle down and get quiet until 10:45!  I am so glad that they are becoming so close, but they still could not be more different.  Here is a little bit about each of my twins.

Ellie
Is almost 2 inches and 2 pounds bigger that Kate right now and wear a half size bigger in shoes.  She is my quiet, serious, polite little girl.  She loves puzzles, books, helping mommy, and Max and Ruby.  Ellie is so smart, she can spell her name and knows all 26 letters and most of the sounds they make.  She has memorized at least 10 of her favorite books and can 'read' them to us word for word.  She loves her white (now a dingy greyish) bunny.  His name is Bun and he goes pretty much everywhere and sleeps with her.  In the past few weeks she has started telling me she want to be a Daddy when she grows up.  But she says she will be a beautiful Daddy who is a girl.  She also refers to herself as Bun's daddy.  I realize it is a little odd, but she LOVES Todd so much, that is makes since to me.

Kate
Is my spunky, loud, sweet, spirited little girl.  She loves to test all rules and see what she can get away with.  She is FULL of questions and is always asking why?  Why that man wearing a hat?  Why are Layla's eyes brown?  Why does the mail man have a pony tail?  Why is that truck green?  Why, why, why!?  Can you tell it makes me a little crazy sometimes? :)  She is also quite chatty and will ask anyone what their name is.  Kate LOVES babies.  She has about 40 baby dolls ranging from 2 inches tall to two feet tall.  When she wants to be, she is very sweet and nurturing.  She will kiss your boo-boos to make them better or cover you with a blankie if you don't feel well. Kate still likes to be held and snuggled a lot and needs several blankies while sitting on the couch or in bed.  She loves her little brother and generally plays so sweetly with him.  She will show him how to do things, read books to him, offer her hand to help him climb up on the couch. 

We are so lucky to have two perfecly unique and amazing little girls.  I cannot imagine life any other way!

Arboretum Pumpkin Village

The Monday after Kate & Ellie's third birthday Todd took the day off work so we could all go to the Arboretum.  We had a great time!  We haven't used a stroller in a while, but we thought it would be a good idea to bring the Bob.  They had the opposite reaction to what they used to.  Everyone wanted to ride!  We had to take turns and I think Jack did most of the walking while his two big sisters just sat back and let Dad push them :) 

This was the best of the 3 of them :/

Watching the girls get their faces painted

Tiny Prints

Last year I was super lucky and found a great offer from Tiny Prints.  All I had to do was write a review about thier holiday cards, fill out a simple form and they gave me 50 free holiday cards of my choice!  I love Tiny Prints and used them for my babies' birth announcements and holiday cards in the past, so I was thrilled about this offer.
It is getting to be holiday season again and I have started the hunt for the perfect christmas card to send out this year and found myself back at the Tiny Prints website.  They have so many beautiful options, I am going to have a hard time narrowing it down.  I love the tri-folds because you can use a bunch of pictures, but I also like the ornament cards because far away family members can hang it on their tree :)  Here are a few that I like, but you have to go look for yourself.  There are tons to choose from!!

Jack's 18 month check up

This is a little late, but I wanted to squeeze it in before I got into pumpkins and birthdays :)

My little Jack is growing up!  Everyday he surprises me with his silly little personality.  He has become a little more mischievious recently, but is still the sweetest boy I know.  Through out the day he randomly comes over to hug me or snuggle up in my lap, he says 'I love you' when I put him in bed or when Todd leaves for work, he is just a sweetheart!  Jack is also starting to get a lot better and speaking in sentences and phrases.  Just tonight he told me, "No, I don't like milk" because he wanted me to put juice in his cup :)  In the last few months Ellie, Kate, and Jack have all started playing together more and more.  I never thought this day would come, for the longest time they just seemed to prefer doing their own things, and struggled with sharing and being kind to one another.  I am super excited to watch as they grow, learn, and play together.  They were playing doctor yesterday for at least 20 minutes.  Each of them would take a turn being the patient while the other two checked their ears, heart, and eyes.  Todd was home too and we just smiled to eachother as we watched them.   Some of Jack's favorite things these days are coloring, dogs, unfortunately his paci, his blankie and dog lovey, grapes, strawberries, yogurt covered raisins, cookies, being outside, singing, swinging, and super why.

playing together!

busy in his outdoor office :)

Jack is a bit of a ham when we are out places and the doctor's office is no exception.  He greet everyone, always smiling and saying hi!  When Dr. Burns was checking him out he just calmly sat on my lap and let her check everything out.  Never fussed once, Dr. Burns actually said it was the easiest 18 month check up she had done in years.  Then it was time for the shots.  He got two in one leg and one in the other and cried quite a bit :(  But when the nurse who gave him the shots was leaving the room he sucked up his tears enough to say bye bye to her and blow her a kiss!  Is that forgiveness or what?! 
Here are Jack's 18 Month Stats:
Hieght: 33in (75%)
Weight: 23.9lb (25%)

My 30th Birthday

On September 7 I turned 30.  This is kind of a big birthday and Todd and I talked about taking a trip to celebrate, but I was just not ready to go on a trip and leave the kids.  I go back and forth between feeling 25 and 45.  Somedays I am tried, feel frumpy, and notice wrinkles forming on my face while other times (mostly when I am kid-free) I think of myself as that cute mid-twenties kindergatern teacher who was always up for a happy hour.  I guess this is what it feels like to be 30?

So in my actual birthday some of my sweet friends had a Mommy's birthday party playdate for me.  Todd took the girls to the dollar store and had them pick out a gift for me and they wrapped it.  We went over to Corrie's house and she had set up a whole little party for me!  The kids decorated party hats and cupcakes, we sang and blew out candles, and then we opened all of my fun and fancy gifts :)  It was so fun and the girls really loved that mommy had a birthday party.  Amanda took some great pictures and I am so glad I have them to remember this day.

We also had an adult celebration.  Todd planned a dinner and invited our friends.  We had a great time eating, drinking, and chatting.  He aslo a booked a hotel for the night while his parents stayed with Ellie, Kate and Jack.  It was glorious to sleep in until 10am!!  All in all it was a great birthday and I felt very loved :)

Day of Firsts

Tuesday was a big day for Ellie, Kate, and especially Jack.  It was their first day of school!  Ellie and Kate attended last year on Tuesdays and this year all three kids are going on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I had been talking a lot about going back to school and the girls would give me mixed responses.  Sometimes they would seem excited about it and other times not so much.  Ellie asked me one day if I could "grow smaller, into a little girl, and come to school with her".  It was so sweet that it made me wish I could :)  Jack is a whole different story though.  I have never left him anywhere before and he is my sweet little mommy's boy, so I knew it would be difficult.  He has recently started to clasp his arms around my neck and squeeze me, pushing his cheek against mine.  While this is the best feeling in the whole world, I knew prying him off of me would be gut wrenching. :(
Here are the pictures from their first day:


Pretty bear came to school too



This is the best pic I could get, I think his face says a lot about how he feels about school



You can tell by her frizzy french braids that I couldn't get a good picture of Kate until she came home from her first day

Kate and Ellie's teachers said that they did great.  Kate cried a little and needed her blankie and her baby, but they both participated in class.  And when I ask them about their day, they both had positive responses.  Jack's teacher said he was happy and social.... as long as he was being held.  There are 3 teachers in Jack's class and apparently he bonded to the main teacher and fussed most of the day unless she was holding him.  When I picked him up at the end of the day, he squeezed me tighter than ever before and practically climbed up my legs into my arms, saying mommy over and over again.  He was literally, physically attached to me until bedtime Tuesday night.  We have a serious Mama's boy on our hands!


If I am not holding him, this is where he is

After school Tuesday was another big first for the girls.  Ellie and Kate's first dance class!  I think I was more excited than they were.  I was in dance and ballet from the the age of 3 until middle school and loved it.  I am so excited to share this experience with them.  They looked like such big girls all dressed up in their 'ballerina costumes' as they call them :)  It was pretty much as I expected.  Ellie cried unless I was in the room and Kate danced around like she owned the place!  When they first went into to start class, Kate walked right in and said, "we need some music!"  By the end of the class both of them were participating in some way, so I think it was a success!


My ballerinas

Chit Chat

I wanted to take a few minutes to jot down some of the cute things my silly kids are saying these days.  I know one day, sooner than I would like, they will be so grown up that they won't say these funny things anymore. 

Kate:
~When Jack first started getting good at walking, one day Kate exclaimed, "Look, Jack is walking!  He's so proud of us!"  Meaning that we are so proud of him :)
~Kate asked me what color her baby was and I told her she is peach.  She now reffers to this baby as "Peaches"
~Everytime I ask Kate not to do something naughty her reply is " Yes, I DO want to make a mess"  or "Yes, I DO want to jump on the couch"  Like I don't understand that she really wants to do whatever it is.

Ellie:
~She spilled some milk on her stuffed monkey and said "Oh, dear.  Now monkey is ruined."  She sounded like a sad little old lady.  She has since used "Oh, dear" when accidents happen, cracks me up!
~Todd was trying to get the kids to coming inside one evening and he told them to hurry so the mosquitos wouldn't bite them.  Now Ellie warns everyone who goes into our backyard that they should hurry back inside so the 'beetos' won't get you.
~I had the house door to the garage open while I was getting the kids out of their carseats and Ellie tells me, "close the door, you are letting the cold air out".  Think she got that one from my watt-watching husband :)

Jack:
While my little man may have been slow to walk, he certainly is ahead of the game when it comes to talking.  He has so many new words that I am not even going to begin to try to list them.  Lets just say the boy talks a lot!  He can point to and name everyone in our family including the dogs, but he can't get Kate.  He calls both of the girls Ellie.  If I say where is Kate?  He knows who she is and will point or walk over to her but still calls her Ellie.  This is funny to me because it seems like Kate is easier to say than Ellie.  He also loves to sing.  He doesn't get the words right but he sings several songs that other people can recognize and he does the motions.  Some of his favorites are ring around the rosey, the wheels on the bus, ABCs, and the itsy bitsy spider.  He has also started to say poo poo and tap his hiney when he has a poo poo diaper.  Maybe he will be easier to potty train with all the exposer he has gotten from his sisters?  Jack is also into to finding noses recently.  He will point to his, poke the dogs', point to baby dolls', etc and shout 'nose'!  We are trying to work on other facial features, but he really likes noses :)

This is a strange mask that Todd scored at Kroger for 29 cents.  I thought it would freak them out, but they loved it!  They ran around laughing for at least an hour!

Both of the girls still say 'hold you' when they want Todd or I to hold them.  And they call their swim suits their swimming costumes.  They have also been having some rather ridiculous disagreements.  In the past 3 days they have argued to the point of screaming about who in our family has blond hair or brown hair, who is the oldest and youngest, and who is big and who is little.  I am not sure why they get so fired up about these things, but the teenage years are likely to be rough around here :/

 *I recently added instagram to my phone and included some pics from my phone in this post.  Kind of random, but thought I might as well add them :)