I ♥ Faces... Blue

If I'm ever going to really learn how to take great photos I've got to practice. I ♥ faces is a photography blog with weekly contests/challenges that I'm going to start entering. This week the theme is Blue. I've posted this 'happy, snappy' shot before and wish I could have had a new, technically correct photo to enter (with a focused face!), but I told myself I was starting this now, so here goes... Hopefully I'll improve as the weeks go on!

The Neighbors

How do you like your neighbors? We are so lucky to have really wonderful neighbors. Tonight we had our next door neighbors over for dinner because they are moving. They've bought a great old house and have been working night and day renovating the place and it is looking super. I'd say we are going to miss them, but fortunately their new house is right across the street!

It is cool and rainy so it was nice to have the oven on warming the house a bit. First, I put a blueberry pie in the oven to bake while I prepped our meal. I'm usually not a casserole kind of girl but I chose an old family favorite, Chicken Divan (Or "Chicken for Dan" as my brother-in-law Dan would say). Add some rice and an arugula salad and we were good to go.

I think everyone liked it!

Ugh! It only took two weeks.

Band-aid fun!

I know they say attending school will help build a child's immunity but I was hoping it would take a little longer than this. My dear little A caught a bug and didn't feel well all weekend. Sunday was the worst, with a fever and coughing. Monday was much better and she was able to go to school today. When I asked how the day was I heard about playtime, art projects, snack, and the little girl who threw-up on the rug. Lovely. I have a feeling we might be in for a rough weekend.

Change of Season

Fall. I think it is my favorite season. Bring on the color!

While Mommy does the laundry...

This morning while I was sorting clothes and throwing in a load of wash, A&O were busy in their bedroom. Apparently, they were getting their hair done.

After the fun of that wore off they made their way into our bedroom where I was folding laundry. Within seconds the laundry basket became a great source of fun.

It reminded me of when my big three year olds were little not-quite-one year old babes.

We've got relatives in town for a cousin's post wedding celebration so we've got a big family dinner tonight and the big celebration tomorrow night. What are your plans? Have a great weekend!

And Another First!

Last week Tuesday was A&O's very first day of pre-school! In preparation we had a private meeting at the school the week before to meet teachers "Miss Sandy" and "Miss Ellen" and to see the classroom where all of the fun and learning would take place. We also made a paper chain to count down the days, so A&O were really eager to get started!

As hard as I tried to keep things super calm and orderly, the morning of the first day felt a little too rushed for my liking. We didn't get to take the official first day photo before we left the house, and once we got to school O wanted NOTHING to do with my camera. The best I could do were these shots from the front seat of the van!

Fortunately, our girls were happy (a bit shy, but happy) as we entered their classroom. I got a bit flustered when a boy in the same classroom clung to his father and screamed "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!", but A&O found that scoping out the fun, new toys was more interesting. I actually had to interrupt them to get a kiss and hug good-bye!

Kevin (who took the day off from work) and I hung out in a lounge at the school for about 20 minutes just to be sure there wasn't any 'delayed separation realization' before heading home. I have to say it felt quite strange to be at home with Kevin and no children. That hasn't happened in over three and a half years! I was feeling emotional but did all I could to keep from falling apart. Kevin mowed the lawn while I did the morning dishes, made beds, and threw in some laundry. When Kevin came in to see if I was ready to head back to pick the girls up I took one look at him and I couldn't keep a few tears from falling. They are just growing up too fast! And with twins being my only kids it was like a double whammy!

We were thrilled to find our girls engaged in an activity when we arrived back at the school. They were happy to see us and excited to tell us all about their day. And there was even talk about going back. I'd call that a super first day!

Another First

Last summer, after learning of Stephanie Nielson and her almost fatal plane crash, I began reading all of the archived posts on her blog NieNie Dialogues. I just love the way this woman views Life and her role as a Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister and Friend! I have bookmarked many of Stephanie's posts with the thought that I could borrow some of her wonderful ideas and incorporate them into my own family life.

One of those ideas is the tradition of a Family Back to School Feast. Since A&O were starting Pre-School I thought this was the perfect time to start our very own Back to School Feast tradition. Since we were dealing mainly with three year olds, I didn't go too crazy. I hope to create some special crowns that will be presented on Kindergarten Eve (with the thought of using the same crowns each year but adding a little something to them to remind them of each grade).

The table: brought out the good china!

Big half sister J (I'm thinking this is her debut on my blog!)

O enjoying her meal!

A loving her milk out of a glass goblet!

We all had fun and look forward to a great school year!

Firsts

Television. Kevin and I watch it a little bit (we don't have cable/satellite) but not when the kids are awake. Our girls didn't watch tv until they turned three years old, and what they watch is limited to PBS/Think Bright. To ease the guilt I have for planting A&O in front of the tv so Kevin and I can get ready for the day, I like to talk with A&O about what they watched and tell them stories about things that they have done, just like the characters, so they can relate better to the story.

Last week the two shows that A&O watch had episodes where the characters experienced "firsts." In the one show, Nanalan, the character Mona got her first haircut. A&O watched intently, without taking their eyes away from the television. I think this was most likely because they had decided they wanted to get their hair cut for the very first time. The airing of this episode was perfectly timed. I quickly got on the telephone and made arrangements for my multi-talented sister to come over for the Big First Haircuts.

A&O couldn't have been any better for this big First. They sat still, followed all instructions, and enjoyed every minute!

We all loved their new styles and I was thrilled to see their curls still intact!

Blog Intentions Looking Better!

My intention for this blog was to post a new post at least every other day, so I would be sure to capture the daily events in my girls' lives and their many developmental stages. Unfortunately those daily events have kept me so busy that by the time I had a moment to blog at night, all I wanted to do was put my feet up and relax. But... we've hit a new stage, a stage that I have dreaded (silly me!) called Pre-school. Today was the girls' second day and I have to say I already feel refreshed by having had almost 6 daytime hours to myself during the week! Today alone I got the beds made, laundry sorted and one load into the washing machine, made & ate my breakfast, started making dinner, made the girls' lunches, cleaned up the kitchen, packed up two returns and dropped them off at the UPS store and ran to the Co-op for milk and fruit! Looks like my evenings will be freed up a bit to blog. And maybe spend some quality time with my husband!! ;)

Yikes!

Kevin almost walked out our front door right into this the other night. Eewww~ huge creepy Halloween spider and web 2 months early! Kevin grabbed a stick, swirled it around quickly like he was making cotton candy and relocated this fella to the street (at least I think that's where the stick ended up!). Spiders are not a favorite of mine!

It's September!

Happy September! In my opinion the weather in our city couldn't be any more perfect this time of year. Summer is winding down with warm, sunny days in the mid 70's and the cooler temperatures at night (between 55-60 degrees) remind us that Fall is right around the corner.

Each year around this time the weather forecasters talk of predictions for the upcoming winter. Because we often do get some crazy winter weather, I tend to pay attention to these predictions. Just to be mentally prepared, I guess. Looks like it's going to get COLD around here!

I had to laugh tonight as I looked out the window while doing dishes. A&O must have been thinking about cold weather, too, as they pulled out their sleds to lounge on. Kevin bought them those fun whirling "T" toys on a recent walk past the toy store and they are trying their darnedest to get them to fly. A pretty much has it down, but O is still hit or miss with getting hers to fly.

A congratulations hug when O was successful!

Please excuse the poor photo quality. My little camera was closest to the action tonight!