Sleepy Heads

For any of you that haven't noticed, we have been a little distracted lately, above and beyond the usual Barlow forgetfulness, that is. We chock it up to good old fashioned lack of sleep. If any of you might remember SIX WEEKS ago when we discovered L & M's night cough/allergies/teething that woke us up ten plus times a night, I don't want to jinx it, but we think it is starting to taper off. Yay! We have what we call an interesting mixture of pharmaceutical concoctions (they know us by name over at Smith's pharmacy) to thank, oh and probably just time. Who knew it would last this long? We knew we were in trouble when we were getting less sleep than our friends with a newborn. Here are pictures of some of us catching up....


We call Maddie our sleeping giant, because tiptoe around her or all hell breaks loose. A cute sleeping giant, that is.


I'm not sure how Maddie got tangled in this; if she hadn't been snoring so loud I would wonder if she was breathing!


Londie always sleeps peacefully, snail-style, with her legs tucked up under her.


Today in the tub I caught Maddie putting her fish to sleep under the washcloth. "Night Night, fish!"



I just had to put these pictures on. Maddie is such a mother hen! She loves help her sister bathe, share her juice and snacks, and even put lotion on her. London doesn't seem to mind. Well, not always.

Maddie times two!

Ryan's Aunt Nancy and her daughter Madison were in town on Sunday, and we were so excited they stopped through to say hi. Unfortunately, the visit was smack dab during nap time, so London and Maddie were not at their best. London and the other Maddie posed briefly for a picture; this was after the twins teamed up and attacked Madison for her baby doll. Oh, the drama! Anyway, it was fun to get caught up and I was so looking forward to getting a picture of Madison and the twins, as they are all almost the same gestational age. I guess we'll have to settle for two out of the three kids--and the baby doll. We'll just have to visit them in St. George and try again.

Housekeeping!

A lot of you wonder what we do with all our free time having two two-year olds, and the answer is: cleaning. It is no picnic when your mom likes a clean house as much as L & M's mom does, but luckily, they have decided to pull their weight, starting with the dishwasher. What a pleasant surprise every morning to have two little helpers to unload the bottom shelf. L & M like to hand me one item at a time, and if they accidentally pick up two, they have to hand them individually. L & M also love to pick up their toys at night and sing the "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere" song they learned at nursery. I'm so pleased I'm thinking of starting a rotating chore chart, and taking myself out of it. We knew having twins would come in handy, but didn't realize it would be so soon!

Two for Two!

Saturday was L & M's second birthday! We were able to celebrate with both sides of the family, which made for a two day long double celebration. I don't know if I am quite prepared for two two year olds, but L & M told me it should be a piece of cake.



Here's what the girls woke up to. They were just as surprised as anybody to find out it was their birthday! Who knew?


Enjoying the goods before the party started. We were all grateful our friend Elmo decided to make an appearance.


Opening presents with Grandma and Grandpa Barlow. The girls wore their new dresses and shoes they picked out for each other! You may also notice Maddie has upgraded to a 'Hello Kitty' band-aid as she now has her stitches out!


It's the Austin Barlows, Lonna and Gwen! We were so glad they could spend some time with us and the rest of the fam.


Many of us had our hearts set on the alligator pool we bought a couple of weeks ago, but come to find out, it had a giant hole when we went to inflate it. We traded it for a spouting whale and jungle safari pool, which actually were a hit.


Let's not even get started on the extended water fight that followed these pics. Let's just say I hope everybody's cameras still work.



Our neighbor Becca brought over this darling bug lawn chair. Is it apparant to anyone else these girls love to be outside?!



This is the life! Only on your birthday will your mom let you eat cupcakes and chips in the pool. Sorry for anyone's lap they climbed on after this!


Part Two: Davis Side celebration was on Sunday, which happened to also be my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, mom! You look fantastic!


Happy Picnic-ing! Now we don't have to come inside, EVER, not even to eat lunch.

L & M try it out for size with birthday cupcakes.

And that about finishes it off! Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated with us! I think two pools, a picnic table, a princess castle, a lawn bench, new swimsuits, a summer wardrobe, the cutest ballerina bear backpacks I haver ever seen, and a large amount of toys should keep us distracted from tantrums for awhile. So bring on the summer! We are finally ready for it.

Pull Up A Chair....

Yep, this is what it looks like. We spent Mother's Day morning in the Emergency Room having Madelyn treated for a head wound.
Here's the story: it all started (hope you have a minute) this morning when Ryan offered to feed the girls breakfast so I could shower. Mid-shampoo, into the bathroom comes Ryan, holding a bloody, screaming Maddie. She had apparently tripped just right and landed on the sharp part of our coffee table. Blood everywhere. I am not very handy in the head wound department, make that the blood department, so I jumped out of the shower (dripping shampoo all over) and called my neighbor, Sister Staker, who is a nurse. Sister Staker graciously agreed to leave what I am certain was breakfast in bed to come evaluate the situation. After her prognosis (definitely needs stitches) we threw the kids into the car and dashed to the emergency room, where we would spend the next several hours! We arrived at the E.R. about 10 am, and it wasn't until after NOON was Maddie stitched up! Try keeping two almost two-year olds in the same room for three minutes, let alone three hours! Might I mention Maddie is the feisty one? Anyone who has even attempted to clip Maddie's toenails can attest to that. Finally after wrapping Maddie's limbs in a sheet/makeshift straight jacket, and two nurses plus Ryan to hold her down, the four stitches were complete! Hooray! Our brave little trooper (and her sister) got popsicles and lovely matching bandages and were sent on our way. Finally! By that time we had missed almost all of church. What an adventure! But at least, as Ryan pointed out, now everybody can finally tell them apart! :0)


The nurse in the E.R. gave London a sympathy bandage, but I like to call it the jealousy bandage (London just needed some attention). Now it just looks like they bonked heads!


As you can see, Maddie set out immediately to milk her injury for all it's worth, helping herself to Londie's cookies.

The rest of Mother's Day went something like this:



After a nice nap and a nice dinner, I came outside to find my new fancy shmancy porch swing the twins chose out for me! The best part is, they didn't even like it! I have it all to myself, which will come in handy as I am going to be the lifeguard for the twins' alligator pool this summer.


Mother's Day ended on a very happy, very restful note as I was able to spend the entire evening outside. I read my book for awhile, then my friend Becca came over and joined me for brownies and ice cream and a long, un-interrupted conversation. I was also grateful to be able to talk to both of my mothers today and wish them a Happy Mother's Day! What wonderful women I have in my life! Finally I was able to look at the stars under a blanket with my darling hubby and reflect upon the day's chaos, not to mention celebrate the Jazz's win. Luckily, when your day starts out as rough as ours did, there's nowhere to go but up! I must say it finished off just perfect. A Mother's Day I'll never forget for sure.

Good Fences

Here is the east side addition to the Barlow home. A few more panels on the west side and we have our kiddies completely trapped. I can't say I take credit in this little yard work of art. It was all the blood, sweat and mastermind of Ryan, with a special thanks to the Barlow brothers (except for James, some excuse, lives in Texas!) and our home teacher and neighbor. And, as expected, with the slow completion of this fence came the slow regaining of my sanity. No longer can any member of our little family list 'playing chicken in the road' under hobbies!

Two Little Monkeys Jumping on My Bed

Here is what you are guaranteed to find if you leave any bedroom door open within a mile of L & M.



They perform all their little circus tricks: jumping, hiding, wrestling, oh and the latest and my personal favorite--fake sleeping, complete with the snore.


And we all know what we're going to get when Londie gives us this pose...


The belly button has graced us again! Who knew you could combine your favorite body part with your favorite party trick? :0)

More where that came from...

So the other day, Ryan and I thought it might be fun to take the girls outside for a little lunch time picnic, all the while forgetting that we had turned the sprinkler on. Well, next thing we know the girls are running through the sprinkler, fully clothed, laughing hysterically. It took at least a day for their little shoes to dry out. Today, we came prepared with swimsuits, yes and goggles too. Here is what we like to call
-running through the sprinkler, the swimsuit version-


I figured out their game plan immediately. It went something like this: Wait for the water...



Now RUN!! (As you can see, it was not co-ordinated well and they smacked into each other!)



Okay run opposite this time! Londie narrowly escaped the water, while Maddie gets a face full (But was prepared with goggles).



Speaking of goggles/sunglasses, Maddie wore hers the entire time! They started to fall off, and she ran over to me screaming "HELP!"


Londie tests the water. I think today was a hit and nobody was tempted to run into the street for AT LEAST an hour. That makes for one happy mom. :0)

The Moment We've Been Waiting For

I received some good news in the mail today! A while back, I submitted a violin audition to the Suzuki Association to be accepted into their teacher training program this summer. The application process was lengthy and somewhat complicated, but I finally heard back from them today. My audition has been accepted! Yay! I am now registered to attend the Suzuki workshop in SLC this summer. Once completed, I will be recognized by the association as certified to start accepting book 1 students, some of which I already have. I have been nervous about this audition for months now, so I appreciate all of your encouragement along the way as it has paid off! Teacher training camp, here we come! Or as Ryan puts it, I'm going to band camp! (?)