Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery....Right???

Lately the girls like to do EVERYTHING that I do.  Cook, wash dishes, fold laundry, and their latest....Do makeup.  Typically in the mornings, the girls get up while I'm still in the process of getting ready for work.  Every morning is the same.  It's actually makes me smile.  Terry gets the girls up and dressed.  I can hear them in their room.  Terry tries to get them to go downstairs for breakfast.  One of them will say...."we go see mommy".  They come into the bathroom and everyday Addison walks in and says the same thing.... "watcha doooin Mommy?  You do make up yet? I do make up too!"  I started letting them play with my make up brushes to buy a little time.  Letting them hang in the bathroom with me gives Terry a chance to make a pot of coffee and to get the girls breakfast ready.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day.  This morning I tried to capture them "doing make up" on my phone.  Alexis apparently wasn't awake enough to have her photo taken, but Addison was all about it.  She said she was closing her eyes like I do when I put my powder on.  It truly amazes me how they notice every little detail.

1st Snowman

I just got this picture via text message on my phone.  While I'm fortunate that I have a job, I hate missing out on all the fun stuff my family does without me.  This morning it was creating their first snowman.

Not the best quality picture but it was enough to bring a huge smile to my face.  Terry said he took much better pictures with the real camera.  Stay tuned....I will post them soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

When did they......???

Terry and I keep asking each other questions lately that all seem to start with the same thing.... 

 "When did they.....". 

For example, when did they become so independent, when did they get that attitude, when did they learn that?  I could keep going.  With every "when did they" question we ask, we thank God that our little kiddos are thriving and doing well.  It's hard to believe that my tiny little babies are almost three. 

Our most recent question....

When did these little girls who used to share a swing get so big???

THEN.....

NOW...

Play Doh Time!

This past weekend the girls caught another nasty flu bug.  They weren't feeling well and were just completely bored with being at home.  I refuse to be one of those parents who takes their kids out even when they are sick.  In my opinion, if you are sick you need to stay home as to not spread your germs to the rest of the world.  So in search of something to do at home....we played with play doh.  I'm not sure why we have never done this before, but this was the girls first experience with play doh and they loved it!  They sat in their high chairs (which by the way are almost too small for them now) for almost ninety minutes playing with the doh. They kept telling me how squishy it was and made numerous pretend pizzas and getty (spaghetti). 

Anyone have any other fun indoor activities?  I'm all ears!

Crisis Averted!

Lately the girls have really been into trains.  Numerous times everyday you can hear at least one of my girls running around the house yelling "All Aboard" or "CHOO CHOO".  A few days ago, Alexis was playing with her Thomas the train that she got for Christmas.  She loves this particular Thomas.  He runs on batteries and will not stop.  He will keep going on the carpet and if it runs into something it flips and starts heading another direction.  This particular evening, I was cooking dinner and I hear the girls giggling.  I figured they were up to no good, so I went into the living room to see them playing trains with Jynxie (our cat).  Alexis was on the left side of the living room and Addison was on the right side.  Jynxie was laying in the middle of the floor.  They were running the train back and forth watching Jynx freak out and bat at it with her paws.  Every time that Jynx would start meowing the girls would giggle. 

After being reassured that they weren't actually causing mischief I went back to working on dinner.  A few minutes later, Addison comes into the kitchen and tells me that Alexis has a train on her head.  I didn't really think much of it at the time.  I just kind of blew it off.  Then a few minutes later Alexis comes into the kitchen crying....  "Mommy, I have train on my head."  Sure enough....She had a train on her head and that train was wrapped around and around and around her hair.  As I previously mentioned....this Thomas does not stop!  He also didn't stop when his wheels got tangled in Alexis' hair.  It keep running and running until I turned him off.   We spent close to 20 minutes trying to untangle Thomas from Alexis' hair.  I was so close to getting the scissors.  But thankfully we didn't have to cut her hair!  It was so funny at first that I had to take a few pictures.  And then the real craziness began....trying to get Lex to sit still so we could get Thomas out.  Oh how this little girl really keeps me on my toes!!

 

PreSchool....

I can't hardly believe that the time has arrived to enroll my little girls in preschool.  I've said it before, but it really does honestly seem like just yesterday that they barely fit in the palm of my hand.....their tiny heads were barely the size of a pool ball...their bodies weren't much longer than a standard sheet of paper....and their lives in general were oh so fragile.  There were so many times that we weren't sure that we would leave the hospital as a family of four.....and now, we are enrolling in preschool.  It seems so surreal and we are truly and genuinely blessed.

I was casually talking to a friend a few weeks before Christmas.  She asked me where the girls were enrolled at.  At that point, the thought of preschool hadn't even entered my mind.  We've always planned to have the girls start school in the Fall of 2012.  I figured that I had a ton of time to do my research and pick the appropriate school.  NOPE!  Never did it occur to me that I should of been looking for a school several years ago.  WOW!  What an eye opener.  A lot of the schools here have 12-36 month wait lists.  I seriously couldn't believe it! 

So, last Thursday, Terry and I did a few preschool tours and picked one that we really like.  I went armed with a list of questions for each director, but in the end our decision was purely based on our gut instincts.  Not to say that they don't have an excellent curriculum, but we honestly just want the girls to have fun.  In our eyes, the purpose of preschool is not only to learn, but to interact with other kids and to learn social skills.  In a few of the schools we toured, the kids were like robots.  They were all sitting perfectly still in their chairs, hands folded on their laps, and acting like if they moved a muscle they would be punished.  Yes, I want my kiddos to have discipline, but I also want them to have fun.  We were looking for a casual learning environment with a pre-kindergarten curriculum. 

I also was extremely shocked at the level of security a preschool environment has.  I do appreciate that no random stranger will be able to grab my girls, but it also makes me sad that our world has to incorporate such strict policies because of a few idiots.  One place has fingerprint identity.  During enrollment, each child and their parents are fingerprinted.  When picking up your kid(s), each child places their thumb on this little computer screen.  The parents finger print must match the corresponding child for them to be released to you.  Kind of cool, but still makes me sad. 

Until now, I never fully understood when everyone told me to enjoy them being little because they grow up so fast.  I still can't believe we are less than three months away from them turning three.  I guess time really does fly when you are having fun!!

Bubble Wrap...

A late Christmas present was delivered to the house today for the girls.  They had a blast popping the bubble wrap this evening.  It's so fun to watch them discover new things.  If I only knew....I would have got them bubble wrap and cardboard boxes for Christmas instead.  :-)

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Bicycle time...

I've mentioned many times how very fortunate we are to be the recipients of a lot of girl clothing, toys, and tons of other items.  Terry's sister has twin girls and we are so grateful to them for passing down their old items to us. 

For Christmas the girls got "new to them" tricycles.  They have been begging to go outside and ride since the day they got them.  Unfortunately, it has been way to cold until yesterday to let them go out and play.  They had a blast!  We were all loving the unseasonably warm weather and the ability to get out of the house for awhile.  We played outside for several hours last night and for several hours today.  The girls were having so much fun that they didn't want to come inside and take a bath.  After bath time they insisted on riding their bikes in the kitchen.  Here are a few pictures and a video...

Earlier in the week the girls went to the museum with Terry's parents.  They had a train exhibit there.  The girls love trains!  They got a conductor's hat that they pretty much haven't taken off since.  You can see the hat in a few of the above pictures.  They seriously won't go anywhere without those hats!

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What's more fun than catching snow flakes on your tongue....

One of the things I hate most about being a working Mommy is all the fun stuff I miss out on with my girls. Today, it was their first experience playing in the snow.  

 Today we got our first significant snowfall this season.  It's mostly gone now, but the girls had a great time playing outside.  I love the phone calls that I get at work when they are so excited to tell me what they just did.  I just hate the fact that I miss out on being a part of it.  Here are a few pictures that Terry took to capture their fun....

My favorite....

Bounce U...

Friday evening we took the girls to a local bouncy house.  We were scoping out a possible location for their birthday party next year as well as hoping to let them jump off some pent up energy!  We all had a blast and slept very well that night.  It was kind of hard to get great pictures because the girls were constantly on the go but here are a few as well as a video....

No fear these kiddos!

She looks petrified but was seriously having a blast!

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Magical....

I can't tell you how much fun we are having in our house this holiday season!!!  While I'm not 100% sure that the girls fully understand the concept of Christmas, it absolutely melts my heart watching them trying to comprehend it all.  Here are just a few thing that I need to document:

• I've tried to incorporate the birth of Jesus story into our holiday traditions.  While playing Santa is super fun, I also want my girls to understand the "real" reason for the season.  We have two nativity scenes in our home.  One is "supposed" to be off limits to tiny hands, and one is the little people toy nativity scene.  The girls love to sing "Happy to you" (their version of Happy Birthday) to baby Jesus.  They know that Baby Jesus has a birthday soon.  They also know that there is usually cake involved when we celebrate a birthday.  Addison has requested a "shock-lat" (chocolate) cake.  The Baby Jesus figurine has also been MIA in our house on numerous occasions.  Last night I found him in the freezer. 

• The girls LOVE Christmas lights and decorations.  The first house you see when you enter our neighborhood has a few of those large blow up decorations.  One of them is a polar bear with Santa sitting on it and the other is a penguin with a Christmas tree.  The other night we took the girls to get hair cuts.  For whatever reason the penguin wasn't on.  I thought Alexis was going to freak out.  She kept saying "penguin broken".  Luckily when we came home the penguin was inflated and all was right with the world. 

• I made Christmas cookies Monday evening.  I always try to let the girls "help".  This usually ends up causing me more work in the end, but I love getting the girls involved.  I look at it as a teaching opportunity.  We always count everything.  Two eggs, 3 cups......the girls love this!  Every night since then, Alexis has declared that we need to "cook more cookies". 

• The girls like to point out everything Christmas related.  For example:  If they see a snowman, they point and say "Mommy, look a snowman".  Same thing for Angels, Snowflakes, Santa, Christmas trees and a million other holiday related items.  Last weekend after reading bedtime stories, Addison declares that she sees and angel in her room.  I asked her where?  She pointed to a little angel ornament that is setting on a shelf in their room.  This particular angel ornament was left at the girls bedside while they were in the NICU.  It has been on the shelf since they came home.  Terry told Addison that we got that angel when she was a baby.  He also told the girls that the angel is on that shelf to remind us of how lucky we are, because they were so tiny when they were babies.  Not only did hearing that conversation bring tears to my eyes.....but every night since then, one of the girls will point to the angel and say "Angel, tiny babies".  I'm tearing up just typing this.

I'm sure I will have a several more of these little holiday things that I want to document over the next week or so.  Here are a few pictures of the girls from our recent trip to see Santa.....  Happy Holidays to you all!!!

My tiny dancers....

Several months ago the girls started taking dance classes at Wishes Dance Studio.  I have no clue why it hasn't occured to me to blog about it until now.  Seriously, a super cute program for little toddlers!  The class is 40 minutes long, which in my opinion is the perfect length of time for my kiddos.  It keeps their attention for just long enough before they are ready to move on to other things. 

Each week of their class has a different theme... ballet week, fairy week, hula week, tea party week, princess week, stuffed animal week etc. etc.  Each class includes learning new dance techniques, story time and ends with a little coloring time.  The girls have really enjoyed dancing and are looking forward to the new class sessions starting. 

Here are a few pictures.