Lately

Lately Abbey has been eating all the ketchup we will let her. She'd drink it from a straw if allowed.

Lately Luke has been super into hanging out with his Daddy, wanting to be just like him.

Lately Luke has been running and jumping and climbing so often - and so fast - that I have to force myself to remember he once had wickedly crooked feet. No longer.

Lately we've been sllloowwllyy making steps with potty training...letting the kids lead. Abigail is interested and does well, but is by no means "trained". Luke has zero interest, but that's okay. If I know that kid at all, he'll wait until he's sure he can do it. Once he's sure he can master something, he goes for it. Until then, he's always a little skiddish. The kid learned to walk in ONE DAY, so I'm hopeful we'll not have any battles.

Lately we've been eating blueberries. A lot of blueberries. I had to take them away from Luke the other day because I was worried he might get sick!

Lately we've been playing outside the second it's warm enough.

Lately Abbey and Luke have been having so much fun with their imaginations. I'm learning three year olds can be VERY creative, and it's fun to watch their imaginations run wild. 

Lately Abbey has taken to referring to herself as "the kitty". It is far more adorable/less creepy than it sounds. She'll say "But Momma the kitty doesn't want to go to bed" or "the kitty is thirsty, the kitty really wants some apple juice". And occasionally she'll just meow.

Lately our two babies have really, really been playing together. Two newborns was HARD work. Two three year olds is still hard work, but it's really fun having two at the exact same age...lately.

Lately our favorite shows have been Martha Speaks, Doc McStuffins, Curious George, and Justin Time.

 Lately we've been doing an awful lot of somersaults around here. Both kids just learned recently how to do them, and now they're all about it =)

 Lately we've been having picnic lunches and dinners outside.

Lately, I've really enjoyed being a Momma.

Blessed

I had the best morning with my kids today. 

First of all, Daddy didn't have to leave for work until after 7:00am, which is unheard of around here! So he was still home when Luke woke up and crawled into bed with me to watch cartoons. Love.

Ab's woke up shortly after, and we had a lazy morning in our jammies, drinking coffee (okay that one was just me) and coloring.

We've had AMAZING weather lately. In the Pacific Northwest, Springtime can be a little unpredictable, and I'm sure there is plenty of rain still to come, but today we enjoyed our 75-degrees-at-10:00am morning!

We put on shorts, sunscreen and sunglasses and loaded up the van in search of a new park. 

We found one just two neighborhoods over that we had never explored before...so fun.

Both kiddo's made a mad dash for their latest favorite activity...climbing!

Ab's taking a break to come over and love up on Dory...

 

Our handsome boy...

 

Luke took this picture of Sis and I!

 Swinging, climbing, playing, jumping...joy!

It was such a nice morning...one where we ignored ALL the things that need to be done, and just played. I have a friend who says good weather ups here Mothering a full letter grade, and I tend to believe the same is true for me. I just felt so blessed this morning to have my two sweet, healthy babies with me - and our sweet puppy too! - and no where to be but the park, playing in the sunshine.

Life is good.

Zoo day =)

 For the twin's birthday some sweet friends of our family gave us a one year membership to the Zoo!

On Friday Dave was off work and Aunt Mem was in town, so we saw it was gonna be sunny out and made a beeline for the Zoo!

Black bears...

 

Can you see the baby elephant?

 

Hippos...

Aunt Mem and the Abs =)

 

A giraffe...

Checkin' out the penguins...

My boys, havin' a little chat...

 

So grateful for such a nice (free!) day at the Zoo, and excited about many, many more trips there in the next year!

There's this dance I do...

Before our babies even came home from the hospital, David and I had cleared our calendar of any activities that weren't absolutely required (read: gave us a paycheck). We knew we'd miss Church for a few weeks, so Dave arranged a replacement to cover running the sound. We had meals frozen. We pre-bought birthday gifts for the next month or two, knowing we wouldn't likely get a chance to do any shopping in the near future. We even pre-paid some of our bills.We planned to hunker down and get to know life as a family of four.

It was a good thing we prepared in such a way, because it ended up being completely necessary, albeit for much longer than the short amount of time we had "allowed" ourselves. We were so overwhelmed with two newborns and my recovering from surgery and trying to figure out breastfeeding and not having two minutes to sit and rest and think.

So, we backed off of a lot of our regular, pre-babies activities. For a long time.

We didn't attend family gatherings. We didn't go to celebrations. Or meetings. Or home groups. Or even out to eat.

 We were just trying to manage things at home, and it was all consuming.

We've been slowly adding them back in over time, with conditions.

The Summer the babies were born, David did play on the softball team, but didn't arrive to games super early to warm up and practice. After about two months, I finally went back to Church, with our twins in tow. 

Three months in, I went back to work, but only 15hours a week. Six months in we traveled a whole hour to a family gathering. =).

And with time, things have gotten easier. The twins are much more flexible when it comes to any sort of schedule. Handling the dinner/bath/bedtime routine is no longer daunting when running a zone defense. We all feel like a Family of Four living here, and less like two angry, tiny houseguests moved in with Dave and I and won't stop yelling at us!

But sometimes I get a little cocky, and I over commit. I start thinking...things are pretty smooth right now...it'd probably be okay if I committed my time/energy/emotion to this thing....

and most the time, it all works out just fine. 

Momma's gone a little bit more, and a little bit more harried and stressed than usual, but we all survive and the house continues to run.

And then there's the other times. 

The times were I get in WAY over my head with taking on too much, and everyone suffers. My kids are outta whack because I'm not around as much. I'm impatient with everyone.The laundry piles up so much that I'm forced to either stay up super late to complete it or run to the store and by everyone new underwear. 

I try and avoid these situations, as my first place to serve is my home. This is not to say I don't have rights to get out and do other things, or that I am exempt of any obligation to do anything for anyone outside of our home. But simply put, if my patience is extended completely somewhere else, there is none left for my family.

So, I dip my toe in this activity over here, or that group over there, and I hang out and get involved until I feel the shift of patience. And then I pull back.

And we hunker down for a bit, and find our rhythm again.

Wheeerrreeee's Abbey???

Abbey's latest "cozy spot".

I just love her.

Quotable

If we're at home, Abigail is pretty much always in pajamas. No matter what we are doing...

Lately both kids have loved bringing out all 584 of their blankets and lovies from their beds to the couch each morning to snuggle in and watch Curious George while they drink their milk and wake up a bit. It's pretty precious, and on non-work days, David and I can usually be found snuggled up under the massive pile of blankets right there with our babies.

Sunday morning I was helping Abbey pick out her clothes for Church, when she suddenly started crying.

Me: "Abbey, what's wrong honey?"

Abbey: "I don't wanna go to Church"

Me: "But baby you love Church, you always have so much fun there..."

Abbey: "I just don't want to get dressed!"

Me: "Why?"

Abbey: "Because if I take off my jammies I just won't be so cozy anymore!"

Just like her Momma.

Easter 2013

I'm "behind" on blogging, and although I'm pretty sure no one is really losing sleep over that fact, I'd still like to catch up as much as possible, since this is where I document our family's memories. 

The Saturday before Easter we attended our Church's annual Easter Egg Hunt. Although we've gone the previous two years, this was the first year Abbey and Luke really got it. 

As a Christian I do believe the reason we celebrate Easter is our Savior died for our sins and then rose from the dead. I believe it's important to share this truth with our children. We talked about Easter and Jesus plenty. But I also don't think there is any harm in Easter eggs and candy =). I don't do Easter baskets, but simply because their birthday is always right before Easter, so our house is full of new toys already. I'm a cheap Momma like that =).

 

Proof that Momma was there too...

 After the hunt is over, we enjoyed all the fun activities...

This Spring our Church nursery had grown big enough that a 2's and 3's class was created, and Luke and Abbey began their first "classroom" experience =). This also meant they were a part of this year's Easter Program. 

I nearly wept when I saw Luke and Abbey up on stage the Sunday before Easter, practicing with all the big kids after the service. 

Big Kids are in programs. Babies aren't in programs. 

I have Kids now.

Easter Sunday David was feeling crummy, so he stayed home from Church that morning. He was so bummed to miss the "performance", so I took video, but blogger and I are battling over posting it. Stay tuned. 

 I do have some pics though...

 I mean, really. Have you seen cuter three year olds?!?

Me neither.