Reason #849 why I LOVE having twins...

Front Porch Fun

We have a giant front porch. Like many turn-of-the-century homes, it is a wide porch that spans the width of the house. It has a swing, a fabulous breeze and constant shade so that even when it is 85 degrees with 90% humidity, it's still comfortable out there. It hasn't always been like this. Up until this springs the floor boards more closely resembled mulch than boards and we advised all visitors to come in the back door. But we had that fixed this spring, and now it is probably the best room in the house. Just ask the girls:

(please note (#1), clothing is usually NOT optional at my house - but with just a couple of small tubs of water a swimsuit seemed like overkill)

(please note (#2), in addition to a new (well, revamped) porch, I also got a new phone that allows me to not only take the pictures you see below, but also to then write this post and share them with you all...that's right, this is all happening. right. now.)

I got out some tubs so they could play in the water. They mostly drank it.













Ian got out the hose. They liked that, too.




(and lastly) They love their riding toys.  They love them even more with a bit of teamwork:

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Built in Best Friends

When I was a kid I always wanted a twin sister. I thought it would have been the coolest thing ever - a built in best-friend. My experience with twins didn't go much beyond what I knew from my Sweet Valley High books, but I knew it could only be one thing : awesome.

I would pretend I'd go away to camp and meet my long lost twin...maybe I also watched too many movies.

I suppose the next best thing is to watch it happen to my girls. When I see these next pics, all I can think of is that song from The Fox and the Hound: "When you're the best of friends, having so much fun together..."

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The summer of food continues....

Buy this book...well, only if you are charged with feeding young people.  Around 6 - 9 months when the girls were first starting out on food other than rice cereal we bought this cookbook:

and I've been loving it ever since!  It is great - it breaks down nutritional advice in easy terms. Feeding the kids has always been something that I've worried about a little - always wondering if I'm doing the right thing, if they are getting everything they need, etc...this book addresses those issues. It also gives great information on specific difficulties found at every age group - from just starting solids up to age 7 (and therefore beyond).  The meals are nutritious, and while it doesn't give a complete nutritional analysis (which I wish it did), it does give info on what vitamins and minerals each dish provides, as well as instructions for freezing for later if suitable.  The meals are kid-friendly and easy to prepare...and good enough for me and Ian to enjoy!

Here's an example:
Homemade Chicken Nuggets (These were SOOO much better than the fast-food variety...and actually good for you!)

Put:
3/4 lb chicken (cut in to chunks), 1 onion (peeled/diced), 2 T fresh parsely, 1/2 c. bread crumbs, 1 chicken stock cube (crumbled) and 1 small apple (peeled, grated) into a food processor and chop until well combined.  Shape mixture into nuggets (or a flat disk and then cut into shapes with a cookie cutter).

On a plate, mix: 1/2 c. dry bread crumbs, 1 c. cheese and onion potato chips (crushed fine). Dip the nuggets into the  coating and fry until light golden and cooked through.
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***I modified this, however.  I only used 1/4 of an onion, and I added fresh garlic, I didn't have fresh parsely so I used dried cilantro, I used cracker crumbs, 1 t. of chicken boullion, and also added one grated carrot (in addition to the already-prescribed apple).  In the coating I used cracker crumbs again, and sour cream and onion potato chips. 

It made about 30 nuggets.  We cooked and ate half, the other half I browned on each side using Pam instead of oil and froze, and will bake when we eat them...we'll see how that comes out.

In the future I would also add some ground flax seed, and another carrot, or maybe some zucchini and might just use cracker crumbs, wheat germ and seasoning for the coating. 

*** By the way, this is how I "follow" most savory recipes...
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As I was typing that up, I thought of another really successful and slightly weird recipe that I want to share...since this is my "summer of food" and all...but this one isn't from the aforementioned cookbook.  It came from clipping my mom cut from somewhere. But that recipe was wrong on a few things, so I made some changes along the way and am giving you the revised version.  It's better.  Trust me.

This is a recipe for granola bars/breakfast bars that you can add just about anything and everything to...its a good way to clean out your cupboard...while at the same time being a super-heathy snack.  A nice alternative to goldfish crackers (my stand-by).

Kitchen Sink Granola Bars (these have a soft texture, they aren't sticky or crunchy)
1-1/2 C. quick rolled oats
1/4 C. flour (preferably whole wheat)
2/3 C. dried fruit (any variety)
1/2 C. chopped nuts (any variety)
1-1/2 C. shredded raw apple (1 medium-large apple)
1/4 C. orange juice
1/2 t. salt
1-1/2 T. brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together, let stand 10 minutes.  press into an ungreased 8 x 8 pan and bake at 375 for 25 minutes (until lightly browned).

**Other good additions might be sunflower, pumpkin or flax seed, honey, molasses, maple flavoring, chocolate chips...ENDLESS possibilities here...

Yes, we're still breathing...

About six different times in the past month I've sat down to update this thing, but inevitably someone wakes up from a nap or I get writers block, or the pictures won't load correctly, or some other fool thing that keeps it from getting beyond a draft and onto an actual post.  I had thought that the coming of summer would mean more leisure time for this...but...I guess that hasn't happened.

So...what are we up to these days???  Here we go:

I've always enjoyed baking - my whole life, it has been something that I've liked to do.  When I was little the toy I wanted soooo darn badly was and EasyBake Oven.  I never got one, by the way.  My mom said that if I wanted to bake brownies (or whatever) I could use the real oven (with her supervision) and make enough for the whole family.  I didn't like that logic at the time...but she was right, of course (as moms tend to be...I can say that now that I am a mom, too).  Anyway, the point is that after almost two years off, I've begun again and am LOVING it.  Although, I think that if baking is going to be a hobby, then I'd better also pick up running or something, too.  I get lots of ideas from several blogs.  I've got them listed over on my blog list if you want to take a look.  With the help of the blog-o-sphere I've made some really neat things, like...

Cherry pie pops. Yum.

Chocolate Cake Pops. I also made these in lemon (but don't have pictures). Yum. Yum.

This June my sister and I took a cake decorating class, and we had a blast. 

This was my first cake.  Apparently I have difficulty finding "center"...

The "Final Project" cake:

And, a couple days after the class was over, my very good friend from grad school (Gretchen)'s daughter turned ONE...so here is her cake (and the smaller one is her "smash cake")

We've also been busy doing some minor home-improvement projects around the house.  Now, when I say "minor" I'm not joking....we are not skilled in the art of fixing stuff.  For us, a semi-major project is changing lightbulbs.  Ok, not really...but almost.  We've been working on cleaning up the yard and trying to keep all the weeds pulled and look, basically, just presentable.  I think we've done a pretty darn good job, especially considering that our yard is HUGE (too big, for us, really) and considering that the past two years we've looked like the hillbilly neighbors who hide cars in the yard (but I think I've mentioned this is a previous post).  The yard work is something that never ends.  And then...last Sunday I was pulled out of bed in the morning by a loud CRASH.  The CRASH turned out to be...

A huge limb (the size of most trees in my parent's neighborhood) fell off of our gigantic, 100+ year old oak tree that was right behind the house.  Notice how the limb is suspended...this is because it fell on all of our power lines.

The tree lies between the house and garage, so it could have been a lot worse.  It was just a bit of damage to the garage gutters:

And bit of damage to the wood siding of the house - where all of the electric/cable lines were ripped out of the wall:

NOT a fun day was had by all as our good friends (to whom we are immensely grateful) Ann and Larry helped Ian (or I should say Ian helped Larry) chainsaw it to moveable bits and haul it away:

 

I'm taking three classes this summer, hoping to make a lane-change on the payscale by the start of next year.  (For those of you who are not teachers, that just means that raises are in part tied to education level - the more graduate-level classes you take, the more it will benefit your pocketbook in the long run.) I'm taking all three classes independent study (which works out well, cuz I can work on them after the girls go to bed), one on Medieval Europe and one on Modern China.  As of last night I have finished both of those, just have one more to go on Effective Assessment.  I'm looking forward to this one, it looks like it will be really good.

And then there are those darling girls....We haven't taken a whole lot of pictures of them lately.  Sorry.  Maybe other parents of young children can relate - I have a VERY difficult time getting them to sit still for a picture.  I think it is the digital camera.  They know that they can see the picture from the other side, so they always want to be on my side of the lens.  Doesn't make for very good pictures.  But...I do have a couple (I'll get to that in a minute).  I do want to say that this is SUCH a fun age to have the summer off.  I thought the same thing last summer...so either I timed it just right (I doubt) or just having the summers off with them is fun (probably).  Makes all of the hectic crap during the school year worth it. 

They are talking more and more.  Well, at least Cora is.  Evaline is...communicating in ways other than actual words most of the time.  That's alright.  It's pretty common for twins to be a little behind on the verbal communication scale.  At least that's what the doctor told us (although he also said that the girls weren't actually below the normal range).  They communicate with one another, which is the cutest thing ever to have them yell - their own little language, mind you - to each other from the living room to the kitchen or whereever they happen to be.  And everyday they play with one another more.  They do the whole side-by-side play that is normal of kids their age, but they also interact and play with one another on a pretty advanced level.  Its a twin thing, I guess.   Ok, onto some pictures:

We took them on their first outing to the local splash pad a week ago or so.  They HATED it.  I'm not sure if it was the cold water, or the splashing in the face, or the rowdy seven year olds (you don't let a  kid run at a pool, why do you let them run at a splash pad?  Am I missing something here?), or a combination of it all...but I'm not sure that we'll be going back this summer.  They were, however, stylin' while they were there:

 

And...here's how we've spent lots of the summer...just hanging around outside:

Sidewalk chalk!

Climbing in and out, and in and out, and in and out (you get the picture) of the gazebo:

Climbing the stairs...

to help Mom pull weeds!!

See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen...

I love to dance. I'm not very good at it, so usually I goof around considerably to disguise the lack of ability. I generally lean towards a combination between acting out the lyrics and mime-ing (you know: the sprinkler, lawnmower, hedgeclippers, pencil sharpener (always the crowd pleaser), grocery cart, etc). This works better with songs such as Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now," "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys or Dazy Head Mazy's "Never Forget". There was a time oh, say seven (can it really be seven?!?!) years ago where most Thursdays I could be found dancing the night away while any-coin-buys-any-drink-for-ladies-night at Sips (remember when?!).

But this post is not meant to be about me. I'm not the dancing queen of the post's title. That honor belongs to...well, it comes in as a tie between my two favorite 18-month-olds. You see, I'm working hard to turn my daughters into a couple of DPS's (Dance Party Starters for those of you who did not belong to the Rho chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta at Iowa State University between the years 1999 and 2003). And they are loving every minute.

A couple weeks ago I was home alone with the girls, so we blasted the music and cut a rug. However, they both wanted me to hold them and dance at the same time. This worked for about a song. Maybe a song and a half. Then my arms felt as though they may fall off. But the girls did not want down. My solution? I talked them into wanting to dance with their babies (dolls, not real ones) instead of me. Worked like a charm. Now they want to dance with their babies every time the music plays. Incredibly cute...and incredibly genius, if I do say so myself. And what's even better is that I have some video of it that I'd like to share with you (its short though - their general rule of thumb is to never, ever cooperate when the camera is rolling).

So...some rare footage of the dynamic duo in action:
Oh I should note: Cora likes to dance by sort of swaying or slowly turning in a circle, while Evaline dances by running either in place, or forward and back - as she's doing in this video.

Three...more.. ..weeks...

...until summer. My countdown started long ago, and it still seems like forever until we're going to get there. School lasting until June 10th is just plain cruel. Especially when the Sunday preceding the three week countdown is 90 degrees and humid. But there was a slight breeze, so it felt wonderful when we went for a walk earlier, and before that when we spent the better part of the morning swinging on the front porch swing. Come on Summer! Hurry! Hurry!

The last month with the girls has been great. Whatever "super-incredibly-I'm-going-to-lose-mind" fussy phase Evaline had been going through since about her first birthday has disappeared, and has been replaced by an almost always smiling, funny, laid-back little girl. What a relief! While not the easiest babies in the world, they are turning out to be pretty awesome toddlers. Hope I don't jinx that by typing it here.

They turned 18 mos. on the 12th. Last Tuesday we went to their doctor appointment and are happy to say that they are right where they should be on all fronts. Happy healthy little girls! And I do emphasize the little - both weighing in at just a tad over 22 lbs (this puts them a bit shy of the 25th percentile). Evaline is an inch and a quarter taller than Cora, though.

Not much else new to report: I think we're all waiting for summer so that we can breathe a little here :-)

Some photos from the last month or so (in no particular order):


Cora is a slow eater, and Evaline has little patience in waiting for her to be done. Here, she's checking Cora's tray...



I made "Whoopie Pies" last weekend (delicious cake-like chocolate cookies with frosting sandwiched in between). I let the girls lick the frosting beaters. They were very, very happy. (Here, Evaline is with her cousin Isabel who was hanging out with us and helping with the cookies.)

Cora needed to get every last drop of frosting off that beater.

To get them to sit still enough for a picture together, they each needed a cell phone to play with. They weren't happy about having to look up from their phones for the picture.

We are in the beginning stages of introducing the potty/potty-training. Evaline needed some reading material. Consumer Reports was all we had handy.

Fun with a Folgers can.

More fun with that Folgers can.

Dad went down to the basement, but the girls needed to keep an eye on him.

And finally, just mom and her girls. :-)