Ten on Tuesday

1) We went to Zoo Lights for the 2nd year in a row. 

2)  The babies have been cutting teeth like crazy.  In the last couple of weeks Ellie has cut 5 teeth & Audrie has cut 3 of her molars.  

3)  We stumbled on Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home the other day.  I'd lived here 7 years and always heard of Taliesen West, but had not clue that it was his winter home..

4)  My long run this week was 7.02 miles this week.  Saturday is the 12 K's of Christmas, 7.5 miles.  There should be lots of fun activities for the kids there too. 

5)  Audrie loves putting on Dad's hat.  Forward, backward, to the side...she doesn't care.

6)  It's official, we are going to be back in Kansas for Christmas.  The trip is booked.

7)  Kierland Commons has "snow" every Saturday in December. We took the girls to see Santa and for a carriage ride..however we missed the carriage ride. 

8)  Before Kierland, we stopped at PF Chang's for dinner.  It always feels so good when people stop at your table & comment on how well behaved your kids are.  There were some other kids there that were running a muck & it made me appreciate our kids.

9)  We also took them to McCormick Stillman Railroad park to ride the train.  They are having Holiday Light rides every night starting on the 10th.  We are definitely taking the kids back for that. 

10)  They both love brushing their own teeth.  I think Santa will probably be putting new toothbrushes in their socks.  

Ten On Tuesday

1)  We went to Tot Town last week...The girls had so much fun..It's a church that every other Wednesday turns their gym into a play area for kids.  They have more toys than you could ever imagine, but of all the toys...guess what the girls played with most?   Balls, of course!

2)  Audrie pees in her potty almost every time we put her on before her bath.   Think it's time to start potty training but want to wait until after the holidays.

3) Justin & I had a minor communication meltdown.  I thought he was watching the girls & he thought I was watching them.  Next thing we know they have their lion toy pushed right up to the toilet.  They are soaked to the bone, super!

4)  We decorated for Christmas.  So far the girls are great with the tree.  I must say I was a little worried but they've been great.  Ellie was way more into helping decorate than Audrie. 

Ellie patiently waiting

We told her not to touch..so she put her hands behind her back very nicely

5)  We went by to take the lock box off of the old house in Surprise & let the girls run around where they spent 8 months or so of their life.


6)  This is how we found the girls Thanksgiving morning.....just kidding Dad put them there.

7)  Here is what the girls had for Turkey Day

8)  And we hung stockings

9)  Normally we put the tree up on Thanksgiving Day but Justin wasn't feeling great so we got to it on Sunday.

10)  Everything in the girls life revolves around a ball.   2 huge round sculptures outside of  Target...BALL...Balloons outside of car dealership..BALL.  You get the picture!

Ten On Tuesday

1)  A couple new words this week...cheese & dog.  Does it really surprise anyone they say cheese?

2)  We put the bunk beds back up & the girls are back in the drawer.  Only they are much bigger this time!

3) I taught Ellie how to do "knuckles."  She loves to give a fist pound.

4)  Everyday when Daddy comes home..the girls here the garage door open.  When I say, "Who's here?,"  Audrie says, "Daaaady!"  Priceless!

5)  I did my long run on Sunday...6.7 miles...now my new longest run ever.

6)  Audrie has her bottom molars now

7)  I had an old jar filled with jelly beans from our wedding.  I decided to clean it out so I could use it & threw them in the bathroom trash can which normally migrates to the closet to keep the girls out of it.  Justin was in the closet getting dressed and Audrie was with him...I ALMOST said, "make sure Audrie doesn't get in that trash."  Next thing I know Audrie has about 20 three year old jelly beans in her mouth.

8)  The girls got a hair cut on Sunday and they did NOT lose their curls.

9)  They are becoming real buddies.  Often times I find them sitting together reading a book together in a chair.

10)  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ten On Tuesday

1)  The girls have started eating with a fork.  You can get them to eat almost anything if you put it on their fork.

2)  I don't know what's going on with our naps.  Most days they just want a morning nap & won't take an afternoon nap.  I really wish they would switch this up & skip the morning which is what most kids do...And then some days they surprise me and take both naps. I don't know, our kids must be weird. 

3)  Yesterday, I ran 4.6 miles which is the farthest I have ever ran in my life.  Just have to make it to 7.5 miles by Dec. 11th.  Oh, and then 13.2 by January 16th.

4)  We are taking the girls to get a hair cut today...they need it BAD.  Their hair is in somewhat of an awkward stage.

I hope they don't cut off their curls :)

5)  They have cracked our childproofing method, which is to shut the doors so they can't get in to what they aren't supposed to.   Well, so much for that...Ellie can now reach the handle & freely goes in and out of closed doors.

6)  Audrie cut in one molar and her second one should be here any day.

7)  They have started waking each other up from naps.  If one gets up first, she will go back into the room & stand at the crib and say "hi" and poke her through the crib slats until she wakes up.

8)  Speaking of  "Hi",  this is by far Audrie's favorite word.  The way that she almost sings the word is so adorable.

9)  They were sitting in the chair giving each other kisses the other day & then just giggling.  Now they give each other a kiss every night at bedtime.

10)  They do a ton of the actions on their Baby Can Read videos.  Let's see...they do arms up, look up, wave, point to your toes, point to your teeth, & touch your head  to name a few.

Ten On Tuesday

1)  Well, we are settled back at home.   Unfortunately, Ellie & Audrie both caught a cold from our trip.  It never fails....everytime we travel they come home sick! 

2)  They girls are little chatter boxes.. At 16 months,.before I forget I thought I would list all of the words that they say..It's funny that they both say the exact same list of words. ( Uh-oh, ball, cow, hi, bye, done, jump, mom dad, car, & shoes)  I think that's it.

3)  I'm trying to make a list of everything I want to get the girls for Christmas.  I am NOT ready for Christmas..  Can it really be November already?

4)  The twins love to dance.  Anything that remotely has a beat, they will dance to.

5)  Audrie turns everything into a phone.   She puts everything up to her ear and starts talking away.  I think she gets it from her Dad, since his phone is almost always attached to his ear :)!

6)  They love to do the actions to the song, :"If you're happy and you know it.."  they both clap their hands, stomp their feet, & put their arms in the air for "hooray." 

7)  The other day Ellie carried around her Frog, "Tad" for over an hour.  She just kept hugging it, kissing it & dancing with it..She would squeeze him and sway back and forth while she looked right in his eyes...So funny!  She would not put it down. 

Ellie

8)  I'm still training for a couple of upcoming races.  I'm going to do the 12K's of Christmas in December & the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in January.  I'm really excited! 

9)  Starting to think about potty training the girls, but will probably wait until after Christmas.

10)  I signed up for another photography class...can't wait to get started..  A big thanks to my Mom for getting me registered.  Their were over 1500 people on the wait list & the class filled in 1 minute.  I was on the flight home so Mom got me all signed up.  Thanks Mom!

Ten On Tuesday

Well, we are back from Kansas so today's post will be just some of the things we did on our trip.

1)  We went to a great park/zoo in Independence with Grandma Rollins..  The girls had a blast being able to go wherever they wanted.. Later in the week we went back and rode the little train there & also the carousel.   Mom & Dad didn't do so well on the carousel...as soon as it started going around we were looking for ways to bail off :)!

At the park

2)  We saw lots of cows at Grandpa & Grandma Rollins' now the twins both say "cow."  They both liked them until one got a little too close to Audrie when we went out with Kenny to feed.  She got spooked when one was pretty much nose to nose with her.

3) They LOVED riding the 4 wheeler.  As soon as they heard it, they wanted on.

4) Their Aunt Paula brought them a teeter totter that belonged to she & my mom.  They too, are identical twins.  The girls will have many hours of fun to come on it.  So sentimental, too!  Justin & Kenny are in the process of restoring it a bit...they cut new seats, etc

5)  The girls went to their first Lyons High School football game...we didn't stay long, but they went.  We also got the chance to see their cousin London play baseball!  We had a lot of fun at the game!

6)  While we were in Wichita we got to visit our friends Dawn & Casey.  The girls had a great time playing with their little girl Kenzie!

7)  The girls got to see their Uncle Shannon while we were in Wichita, too. Shannon & I took the girls to dinner & everyone kept thinking he was the Dad.  The girls weren't on their best behavior...normally they don't make a peep at restaurants...they just people watch.  But I guess they though they could get away with it since Justin wasn't there.

Audrie with Shannon

8)  On the last Saturday we were there, my cousin Anna had everyone over to her house for a little Halloween party.  Anna plays the piano and the girls loved sitting down and banging the keys with her.

9)  On Halloween we went to Chanute and trick-or-treated with Madi & Molly.  The twins had a blast..it was so fun watching them run around the streets.  Audrie was Strawberry Shortcake & Ellie was Lemon Meringue.

Audrie with Justin & Molly...Ellie with Madi & her friend

 10)  While we had a great time and it was fantastic to spend time with family...we are also so...very...glad...to be home!  I'll have lots more pictures to come, I just have to finish going through all 350 of them!

Ten On Tuesday

1)  Audrie has been really cuddly this past week.  I don't know what's up with it, but I like it!

2)  I've realized I've been slacking on taking pictures and need to start getting more shots.    I think it's partly because I'm really critical of all of the pictures I take & partly because the girls are always moving and hard to get pictures of...whatever the case, I'm going to work on taking more. 

3)  When we walk through the garage to get in the car;   normally I hold the girls' hands while we navigate the small step down to the car.  One day, I was a little slow on grabbing their hands so Audrie grabbed Ellie's hand as they stepped down so they didn't fall going down the step. Priceless!

4)  I've taken up running for the past 10 weeks or so....I still don't LOVE running, but it's an easy way to get in some exercise in the morning before the girls wake up.  It's also kind of peaceful...I'm not sure what race I'm going to run...but thinking I may shoot for the Half Marathon in January.  Don't hold me to this though!

5)  When we play catch, when I'm getting ready to throw the ball I would say to the girls, "Back up, back up, back up...Now Audrie trys to say it to me as she backs up.

6)  Don't judge...we bought leashes for the girls.  Cute back pack leashes.  I told myself I would NEVER put my kid on a leash, but I think Mothers of twins play by a different set of rules.  Soon, they aren't going to want to be in a stroller which is great for containing them.  When you let them walk, they tend to bolt in 2 different directions.  If I ever have hopes of taking them anywhere by myself at this age (out of a stroller), I need some way to keep them with me as they are too independent to let you hold their hand.  Not sure I like the leash idea, but we'll see if it works. 

Audrie with her monkey leash

7) The girls have a foam alphabet letter set for bath time.   For some reason, Audrie always puts the yellow 7 in the yellow cup; never any other letter or number.  It's always the yellow 7...weird.  Wonder if she knows the number 7 or she just likes to match the colors? 

8)  We had a first trip to Greasewood Flat with the girls last weekend. 

9)  The twins haven't woke in the middle of the night in months and months & months.  Last night Ellie was crying from 2-4 AM.   Thank you Molars!

10)  We leave for Kansas in the morning...

5 O'Clock

This is what 5 o'clock looks like at our house

Ten On Tuesday

1)  The girls are both trying to jump this week.  So funny as their feet never come close to leaving the ground, but they've got the right idea.

2)  Can't wait for the girls to have some chilly weather so they can wear their new boots.  They love stomping around in them.  Also, so glad we can still buy fake "UGGS" for them & they could care less.

3)  Ellie is such a smiley thing & Audrie has such a serious face most of the time.   She probably laughs aloud more, but always has such a serious look.

Audrie with her serious face & her curls

And Ellie with her big grin

4)  I received the Halloween costumes that were made for the girls...Strawberry Shortcake & Lemon Meringue. 

5)  Ellie thinks the laundry hamper from their room is where ALL of their toys should be put away.

6)  Again, can't wait for cooler weather.  They are outgrowing all of their summer clothes so I'm ready for their winter wardrobe.

7)  We are officially done with swimming for the summer.  Robyn came over for the last time yesterday...she's been coming once a week to swim with the girls.  I need to post a video of one of their last swim...they absolutely amaze me!

8)  8 more days and we should be in Kansas minus any more flight fiascos.

9)  Recently Ellie has been the more talkative one & it used to be Audrie.

10)  They have both mastered doing the sign for milk.  

Flight Fiasco!?!?

So, here it is the end of September and we are supposed to be in Kansas.  However, after 6+ hours in an airport, 1 missed 10 year class reunion,  & lots of waiting family; we are still in Arizona.  We were scheduled to fly out at 7:35 AM last Friday.   We boarded the plane and everything was going smooth;  that is until they told us they needed to have the plane looked at and we'd need to get off of the plane.  We were flying out of Mesa-Gateway Airport which is teeny tiny...Allegiant is the only airline that flys out and they only fly 2 flights per week.  So after we waited until about 11:30 AM  with 15 month old twins we'd had enough and left. The girls actually did surprisingly well...they only got mildly cranky for a few minutes when they were ready for a nap.  Imagine 2 germaphobes like Justin & I stuck in an airport with babies for 6 hours... WHEESH!, NOT FUN!!  So, long story short...we re-booked our flight on Southwest for Oct. 13th....I don't think we will be flying the friendly skies with Allegiant anytime soon! :) 

On to other news....Ellie is quite a little card. Apparently whatever she likes to babble about is pretty funny.  Justin and I get tickled at her because she'll go on & on about something then at the end she'll just start laughing. Meanwhile, she's talking with her hands the whole time...she comes by that honest.



They've both become good little helpers around the house...however I still can't get them to put their toys away.  Every time we come in the back door, I take their shoes off...both girls grab their shoes and walk them over to the cubby by the front door where we keep their shoes.  They also like throwing things in the trash.  Lately it's become slightly easier to keep the kitchen floor clean.. After a meal or snack, when they are done they pick up all of the food off the floor and put it in my dustpan to put in the trash.

On to a couple of pictures...

So this picture now hangs in our dining room...I was pretty proud of myself for laying it out in Photoshop.  I love the way it turned out!

Audrie & Ellie coloring

15 Months!

Today marks 15 months for the girls...

Another day at a Splash Pad

Yesterday Ellie started feeding herself with a spoon.  They've both been "kind of" feeding themselves, but yesterday was the first day I put the bowl on their tray and left it.  Normally I just let them stick their spoon in while I hold the bowl.  Yesterday, Audrie seemed to enjoy putting her hand in the bowl rather than the spoon though, so she's got some work to do.  One thing to note is that Ellie is using her left hand.. a lefty perhaps?  Not sure yet, but maybe?

Audrie loves hanging her feet off the couch

Audrie Will Hate Me For This Picture Later

I'm positive Audrie will hate this picture later, but I love it!  We were getting ready to get in the pool yesterday, and Audrie was running around naked before we got her suit on her. 

And just a quick thing that I forgot to document on here about a month ago.  The girls are officially "off the binkie."  They were just using it for naps & night, but about a month ago we took it away cold turkey.  We had a couple of pretty rough naps, but in a few days they forgot all about it.

What did You SaY?

Daddy reading a story

Well, I've always heard that twins have their own language and now I truly believe it.  They jabber away at each all day long.  Right now, Audrie is probably the more talkative of the two.  Audrie just talks & talks about everything it seems.  Ellie on the other hand is more to the point.  She has this one particular sound she makes to Audrie;  everytime Ellie does it, they either laugh or Audrie hands Ellie something.  It must mean something, but I'm just not sure what.  Apparently Audrie understands though.

The best part is in the morning when they first wake up.  They normally start to wake up around 7:30 or so but we don't go get them from their cribs until about 8:00.  So from 7:30-8:00 you can hear them just carrying on having a good time.  Who knows what they are talking about, but it's pretty funny to listen to.  I have to remember to get this on video if possible.

Splash Pad

Before the "accident"

So some of you may already have heard, but for those of you who Justin HASN'T told; the girls had their first accident on my watch. Justin likes to tell the story more than i do, since he wasn't here when it happened. I had the laundry basket out and Audrie happened to crawl in, so Ellie started pushing her around the house in it. So cute I thought. Well then Ellie crawled in the basket too and they were just playing...all of a sudden they both stood up on one side and of course it tipped over and they face planted right on the hardwood floors. Instant hysterics. So I'm trying to hold both of them, but can't really check out their injuries without a free hand.  Audrie sticks her finger in Ellie's mouth like she always does, and when she pulls it out there's blood on it, "uh-oh."  Well, I finally got them calmed down and then they went for their nap.  I was more concerned about Ellie at this point, but when they wake up I discover Audrie has a giant bruise on her cheek. I'm sure this will be the first of many accidents, but I realized how hard it is when they both get hurt at the same time and need Mom.  

Ellie coloring

Audrie playing in the fountain

So, on  to more recent events...this weekend we took the girls to the splash pad at Desert Ridge.  They had so much fun.  We took them to dinner first and Ellie had a good time coloring.  Then we headed over to play in the water.  At first, Ellie did her typical thing...just stood there and looked around.  Audrie also did her typical thing...bolted off in 12 different directions.  Pretty soon though, after she'd "assessed" the situation, Ellie was off.  They were all over the place...I'd like to take them this week by myself, but I'm not sure I could contain them both.  Even with Justin there, I kept losing track of one...Anyway, they had so much fun & I'd definitely recommend taking your kids to one if you've never been. 

Ellie and her new friend

Lastly,  Ellie & Audrie are loving books right now.  Usually they will go get a book and bring it to me, then fight over who gets to sit on my lap while I read it.  Story time usually consists of one kid on my lap and the other one hanging over my shoulder trying to see the pages.  Well, I think that's it for now.  

14 Months

For me today is bittersweet...the girls turned 14 months old today, but with great sadness dare I say the girls are officially done nursing. A dear friend of mine had her 1st baby start kindergarten today and she was explaining how her daughter seemed fine, meanwhile she's been a mess. Isn't that the truth? I'm sure the girls would have been fine being done nursing awhile ago, but Mom just couldn't quite cut them loose. But today was the last time..I THINK. As long as I can stay strong in the morning and just give them their sippy cup.

The twins have never really nursed for comfort..they've been on a really good schedule and only nursed when they were hungry. I've been gradually decreasing the number of feedings and for the last several months I've only nursed them when we wake up. 5 days ago Ellie decided she was done... I put her on my lap and she'd just giggle and roll off my lap onto the bed. Audrie has still been eating, butI finally just decided it was time to call it quits. They are fine with stopping, so Mom should be too, right? It's funny, turns out I really enjoyed the experience. In the beginning I didn't think I'd make it 14 days, let alone 14 months. Wish me luck in the morning..;)

Oh, and the pictures...this is Audrie. She loves carrying her dollies around and gives them lots of kisses. Usually one under each arm..

1 YeAr PiCs

Wanted to give everyone a sneak peek of the girl's 1 year pictures by Kelly Rashka..I should have all of the pictures back soon and will be posting more...Here are just a few!

Lots of UpDaTeS!

Well, this week we started probably what will be the girl's last week in swim lessons. Tomorrow I get to get in the water with them, which will be fun! She's going to show me some things to do with them so they'll continue to float and swim underwater.

Saturday we went to The Little Gym! I think the girls had fun, but I realized I'm definitely not the "sing-songy mom type." There was a little bit of that in the beginning and that was certainly not Justin and I's favorite part. The girls were so funny and you can tell they have different personalities. The teacher said to let them "explore" and Audrie did just that. She would just take off with no thought to where Mom & Dad were. She'd go over to other families and stand there with them, then take off in another direction. Ellie, on the other had we kept calling "Elmer", because she had her feet glued to the ground. She was so curious that she was just taking it all in but standing in one spot.
They love to climb on everything, so I'm sure they had a great time. Especially Audrie, she actually climbs INTO everything. Yesterday the toybox in the living room, today the toybox in her room, & then the box that my scrapbook supplies were delivered in.
Well, the girls are waking up from their nap so I'll finish the rest of the updates next post.