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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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!!