Wordless Wednesday

*SPECIAL NOTE: First, these words don't count.  "Wordless Wednesday" is an idea that I am totally stealing from my good friend Katie, but, if I remember correctly, she stole it from one of her friends -  so it's all good.  The idea: I'll just post a picture, or maybe a few pictures, without commentary.  I guess I'll just leave it up to you why I found those particular photos interesting, cute, adorable, etc.  You will realize the importance of these posts this weekend when I reveal my 2011 Resolutions.  

Merry Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday! We have! :) Although, this week has been one of our busiest this year. I'm awfully glad that I have the next week off to recuperate.

The festivities started last Sunday with our Wiley family Christmas; it was great to get to see all the aunts, uncles, cousins (and their families). The girls were great - they spent most of the evening downstairs, tagging along with the older kids. My cousin's daughters volunteered to keep an eye on them...so we spent most of the time off-duty. It helped that the party was at my parents' house, so they were in familiar territory and everything was Evaline-proof (slightly higher requirements than just child-proof).

Tuesday Ian and took off work because the girls had surgery for ear tubes. Yes, BOTH girls. I'm sure I've mentioned before that they have ear infections since September. We were supposed to have surgery on the 3rd, but apparently the doctor felt it was more important to be at his child's birth. The week before surgery Cora got a major infection and Ev got a massive cold. But...all was well by Tuesday and it was a go.

We had to sit in the waiting/prep/recovery room with the door open. It was too much temptation for Ev...she tried every trick in the book to sneak out of the room. My favorite was inching to the door on her tummy, then making a (crawling) break for it. Cora followed closely behind, but wouldn't cross the threshold with more than her head. Luckily, I had my camera in hand.

Thursday we gave up pacifiers. Apparently Santa only visits little girls who don't use them. We had been good about sticking to our "only for sleeping" rule until the girls got sick this fall, then gradually the used them more and more. I explained why they could longer have them, then had the girls throw them away themselves. Eva was all about it; Cora's heart was temporarily broken. They've never asked for them since, but are still getting used to sleeping without them: nap time and early mornings are the biggest hurdles.

Christmas was good to us. On Christmas Eve day Ian and I saw the movie True Grit with my dad, Dave & Katie while my mom watched C&E. I'd highly recommend it. We spent a very nice evening with my family, and then spent most of Christmas day out at the Kozlik farm with the Petersen side.

The girls have really seemed to enjoy this Christmas...or perhaps the girls have very much enjoyed unwrapping presents. I would have thought they were too young to really "get" Santa, but after Christmas Eve with my family they kept talking about "Santa coming" (Cora) and "Santa. [is coming to our] House." (Eva) and about 6:00am we heard Cora banging on her bedroom door shouting "I'm awake! Santa! Presents! I'm awake!" And so it begins...

Final note...or rather, two more pictures worth showing:
Evaline got into her Grandma Barb's purse and found her lipstick. She was awfully sneaky and got this far before anyone noticed:

And, Cora was caring for her (and Evaline's) babies, and figured that they needed diapers (after she used the pliers from her new tool set to cut their toenails).  She ran to the drawer where we stash them downstairs and went to work:

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Fire truck! Fire truck! I want to ride in a FIRE TRUCK...!!!

These are the first three lines of the girls' favorite song.  Its officially named "The Fire Truck Song," by Ivan Ulz.  Originally it was part of a sing-along book, all the rage in, I think, the late 80s.  It has made a major comeback, however, in the classroom of the Cedar Rapids West Kindercare Twos.  Oh.  My.

During the month of September, their class did a unit on government personnel...although I'm sure that's not what they called it, I just don't what to call it right now.  They studied firefighters, the police, and the post office.  They made their own class post office and mailed each other letters.  The mailman/woman came to visit and let them wear her hat (cutest picture ever of Evaline...but I only have a hard copy.  Maybe I'll try scanning it in...).  The highlight, however, was when the fire truck came to visit.  For three months now, whenever Cora gets excited about anything, she jumps up and down (which is actually more like squatting and standing up) and sings the The Fire Truck Song.  It has been fun watching her progress from saying "FiretruckFiretruckFiretruck" to actually saying the words. 

She's made one additional progression this week however.  She's changed the words from "I want to ride in a fire truck!" to "I play in a fire truck!"  Because...she's remembering when she actually got to play in a fire truck!!

This past Saturday we took the girls on a surprise visit to the Palo Firestation, where our good friend James is a volunteer fireman.  They were in complete awe.  Evaline was more outgoing about pushing buttons, honking horns, and using the walkie-talkie; while Cora was a bit subdued and, well, awestruck, I think.  But they absolutely LOVED it...and can't stop talking (or singing) about it.

I took too many pictures.  Here's just a sample (Ok, ok, its a rather large sample...but I just wanted to share them all with you.  If you don't want to see this many photos of the girls at a fire station, then just stop looking.):

Cora's first look - full of wonder:

Evaline's first look - pretending to be a bit shy:

I'll let the rest just speak for themselves:

Ok, I'll give this one a caption - they got neat-o firemen hats to take home.  Although they wouldn't put them at the station, I've barely been able to get them off once we got home.

And...we'll cap it off with some random cute photos.  Last year the girls wanted NOTHING to do with the snow.  This year, they've had fun playing in the show that we've gotten.  Cora could stay out there all day.  Evaline is fine to take a couple laps around the yard and go inside for hot cocoa (well, if I let her have hot cocoa, I know she'd be totally in to it)...a girl after my own heart.

And...helping with the Christmas tree.  They have been surprisingly good.  Only very, very seldom to they even think, about taking ornaments off. 



Shutterfly

I LOVE Christmas cards.  Well, I love the whole Christmas season.  But I really love Christmas cards.  I find it very unfortunate that the man I married floats somewhere between Scrooge and the Grinch...think I need to find some sort of ghost to come and make his heart grow about eight sizes (not quite the ten of the actual Grinch).  Regardless of how scroogrinchy he is about the season in general, I still think that he likes the whole Christmas card deal.  I love having the photos and notes from friends and family to make that little, heartwarming connection at the "hap-happiest time of the year".

(Ian is standing over my shoulder and wants to defend himself.  His two problems with the season: delicious cookies and treats are limited to one month of the year instead of being consumed all twelve; and it is "patently ridiculous" for someone to completely redecorate a house for one month of the year.  He claims that neither of these points passes a cost-benefit analysis.  I think he's just being dumb.)
Anyway, where was I....

Picking out the cards, is always such a careful process.  It has to have the right look  to really describe the feeling of the giver.  It can sometimes be hard to find, to that perfect card.  Fortunately for me, I found out about a special deal on a friend's blog...Shutterfly is offering special savings for bloggers who do a write-up about them on their blog.  They aren't a difficult company to endorse because they have AWESOME products.  We've gotten cards there before, often use them to order prints, and we've used them for the photobooks for our wedding and for the girls' first year.  I have another book in the works for the girls' second year, too.  I think I ordered a photo mug there for a Father's Day gift a couple of years ago, too.

Flipping through their christmas card options, I'm finding it more difficult to narrow down and find just one to buy than to search for one I like.  Not a bad problem, if you ask me.  And even if you don't ask me, it's still not a bad problem.  They have everything.  I mean everything: whimsical, classic, snowy, all-inclusive, ornate...you name an adjective, and I'm sure they've got the card to match.  I'm almost feeling overwhelmed...almost.  I think I have the card that I love picked out.  But I'm not going to post it here.  I want it to be a surprise.  Instead, I'll show you some VERY close second-place winners....heck maybe you'll fall in love and I'll get to see one with your face on it!

I mean, how cute is this?


I'm kinda partial to this one, too...but sending it out might be a bit too egotistical, donchathink?


And this one? Come-on! Pre-CIOUS!


This one makes me want to go eat a candy cane. And I don't even like candy canes.


You get the idea.  Go look for yourself.  Get in the mood.  The holly, jolly mood.  And then spread some cheer.

We're still here...

although you couldn't prove it by this blog.  If any of you are still here...thanks for waiting, sorry it took so long. (This seems to be my mantra...I seem to start most posts this way...)

This school year has been flying by in so many ways!  Only 13 more school days left in the fall term!  School, as always keeps us busy...and keeps me tired.  I don't think that I was meant to get up at 5:21am five days out of week.  I think that 5:21am should be a time that I only see on special occasions: like Christmas morning or when catching an early flight to Mexico.  I'm looking forward to a week off at Thanksgiving, the weekends don't seem to be long enough to really get me re-charged for the next week.  Or, maybe I'm just tired right now so that's what's really on my mind. (Is this a taste of what my 30s will be like??? Not too long now...)

Thanksgiving being right around the corner means that the girls' birthday is quickly approaching!  My little girls are turning TWO in less than two weeks!  WOW.  They are not anything close to babies anymore...they are real little girls.  And, as of last night, they are in big-girl beds and everything!  Starting about a week ago or so Evaline started climbing out of her crib (first at Gramma Lynn's (Cooper) and then at Grandma Petersen's....and finally at home).  Instead of waiting until she broke her arm or collar bone, we decided to make the move.  We were pretty nervous about this...but...so far, so good.  Last night they went right down, and we didn't hear anything until 6am...when one of them decided to dump out their blocks and get down to building.  They played quietly until Evaline thought it would be funny to throw Cora's beloved monkey over the babygate at the door of their room.  We had to then choose to either get up ourselves or listen to Cora's pitiful cries of "Mon-key, Mon-key, MON-KEY, MON-KEEEEEEEY". (Evaline, by the way LOVES to do these things to her sister...she thinks it is hilarious...) Today, naptime went smoothly, and they've been down tonight for about an hour and a half without a peep.  WHEW. (knock on wood)

The past few months we've been battling all kinds of sickness.  The second day of daycare, back in August, Evaline came down with the stomach flu, and I don't think there's been more than three days where all of us have been healthy.  The girls have had one ear infection after another and we've had difficulty finding an antibiotic that will actually get rid of them.  During their first round of infections both girls went through two medicines and then had to get the shot (rocephine, I think).  Their ears were promptly re-infected, and I think that the medicine we tried this time isn't working either.  Throw several colds, a case of laryngitis (me), a few more rounds of the stomach flu...and that's been our last two and a half months.  Maybe that's why I'm so tired.

I did manage to take few photos over the last couple months....

In early October we went to Palisades Park (for those not from CR....its a beautiful park with hiking trails, etc. down by the river, just outside of town) and had family pictures taken by a good friend of my sister's. I doubt that she will ever do such a thing for us again...the pictures came out great, but Evaline was a complete terror. We were there for about 75 minutes, and about 60 of them looked something like this:

During he 15 mintues or so that weren't awful (and these 15 minutes didn't come as a clump at the beginning or end, but were scattered throughout...a minute here, another there...), we did get some "good memories" like this of Evaline:
 

And this of Cora:

And this of Ian and me:

We got one good one of them together, and one mostly-good one of all four of us.  I think those will probably go on this year's Christmas card.


I think I mentioned before that the girls like to help around the house.  They love to help vacuum (I LOVE how they hold on to the cord while vacuuming...just like Mom...)

Cora is all girl.  She would wear these all day and everywhere if I let her:

Evaline is all ham.  Cora was getting attention for the heels, so Evaline put her pants on her head:

I meant to post this one a month and a half ago. 

Remember back in July when I posted about a big chunck of tree falling on the power lines between our house and garage?  We had the rest of the tree taken out, and I thought I'd give an update: THIS is what was hanging over my house.  You can't completely tell from the photo, but the trunk was completely hollow. YIKES!

And that's it for now.  The girls aren't dressing up for Halloween this year.  Just thought I'd let you know, in case you were looking forward to cute costumes or something.  They don't know what Halloween is, I'm not going to let them eat the candy, and I certainly don't need any.  If Scrooge had a Halloween cousin...that would be me. :-)

Rough Transitions...

School started this past Tuesday, and Ian and I returned to work a week before that.  And it has been one heck of a transition.  In some ways it is great to back.  I have a very good "first-week" impression of my kids, they seem like a fun bunch, overall willing to participate in the class discussions and my classes are relatively small.  It's also nice to be back in the classroom in general.  I think that sometimes when I'm home for extended periods of time I catch myself forgetting how much I really love what I do...so it's nice to get back in the swing of things and get that reminder.

On the homefront, however, the transition has not been quite as easy.  The girls are now going to daycare (although I like to call it "school"...it sounds better that way, somehow) three days a week, and then to each of their grandparents for one day.  They really like their school (and so do we), they enjoy being with the other kids and participating in all of the fun activities that they do and they like their teachers.  Naptime, however, is (so far) a HUGE problem.  This summer, the girls were still taking two naps most days, and sleeping between 2 and 3 hours cumulative with those naps.  At school, they take only one nap and average about 10 - 15 minutes.  Which makes for some CRANKY and CLINGY girls in the evening.  They are utterly exhausted by the time we get them in the evening with the usual routine going: get home about 4:15, cry for a half hour to forty-five minutes, eat dinner (while fussing), cry for another half-hour, go to bed around 6:00.

 I certainly hope they get the hang of this soon (its sorta driving me crazy).

Other than getting WAAAAY too little sleep, the girls have been busy growing into real, little girls.  Talking more and more every day...its so much fun to hear them actually tell us what is going on in their little heads.  And, they are getting so good at using their imaginations, too.  They will often take their snack (goldfish, cheerios, etc) and pour it into the tiny frying pan that goes with their little kitchen and then "cook" it in their microwave or stove, announce that it is "DONE!!!" and then blow on it before they eat it because its is too "hot". 

Here's some documentation as to what else they've been doing lately:

Picking out their own clothes:

In the above photo Evaline insisted on wearing pants with her dress.  She's also playing her favorite game "bye-bye".  Where she gets her purse (one of my old ones) loads it with her toy cell phone, keys and dog and gives everyone a hug, kiss and wave bye-bye and runs out of the room, only to come back seconds later rolling with laughter because she tricked all of us. 


Here they are helping with household chores.  They LOVE to clean - whether it is vacuuming, dusting, throwing away trash and even - yes this is true - putting their toys away when they are done!  This little mini-vac that we got to vacuum the stairs fits them perfectly.

The night after their second day of "school" they both caught the flu...poor little ladies...

Cora desperately wants doll stroller (she's getting one for her birthday...but shhhhhhhh! don't tell!).  Since we don't have one yet, she's used her ingenuity and creativity (which she gets from her mom and dad) to create her own...what a clever gal!  Although, as soon as Evaline saw this, the fights began...alas, we only have one...

You may have noticed that the pictures here are a little Cora-heavy.  It's been that way for awhile, I think.  Evaline has been boycotting the camera.  Here we asked Cora to go and catch Evaline for a picture...look at her hamming it up!

An evening on the "farm"

This evening we went out to Ian's grandparents' farm. I put it in quotations in the title because one typically expects animals on a farm, and the only animals out there are cats - but it is a real farm just the same. It's on a gravel road and everything.

The girls had a fabulous time running around the huge yard. They loved one tree in particular, its low-hanging branches proving to be loads of fun. (I Think its a birch. I could be wrong.)

Oh, from the photos below one might deduce that Cora is the favorite twin. But that's not the case (its a tie in the favorite department), she just slower than Evaline, who happens to be faster than my camera. Most of the pictures of her were either blurry or just grass because by the time the picture took she was already out of the frame. C'est la vie.

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