Happy Halloween!

Here is a little recap of some of my favorite moments of L & M's lives: Halloween costumes.

Halloween #1: They're twins! They're pumpkins! They're--


Twumpkins!

Let's not forget last year. They're twins! They're bugs! They're--



Twugs!

This year's twingaroo is demonstrated by Madelyn, as unfortunately, London will have nothing to do with her costume...Let's see how she feels about it once collecting candy is involved, shall we? At any rate, these costumes were advertised as 2-5T but turned out to be 4T, so we can fit both twins inside if we need to. Maybe Londie wouldn't mind riding around in the pouch. Here Maddie is crouching to do her infamous "jumpy jumpy jumpy!"



Happy Halloween, mates!!

Toddler Einsteins

Apparently there have been recent studies published that Baby Einstein is not the baby genius maker it proclaims to be. Gasp. You mean television is not a replacement for brain stimulation and parental interaction? Shocking, I know. Our first clue must have been the glazed over look our kids get in their eyes while watching it. Though this state of borderline comatose comes in handy when you are desperate, say every Sunday morning, we prefer to think our kids came out with their genius all by themselves.



Cranking out the masterpieces. We think Ryan's art genes are showing up in Londie. Check out her latest work.


She has been working on this one for days. Ryan likes the way the colors are perfectly balanced. I just like the squiggles.


As you can see, artwork of this magnitude takes a lot of concentration, not to mention some serious ambidextrous skills. And it comes in handy to have a sister in case you need to switch colors. I think I'll leave them alone with their creative juices for awhile.

Corn Belly's at Thanksgiving Point

Touch the Moon

Last night our family night activity was fence building! We finally finished our vinyl fence: east side. Note to future self, a bit more intense project than one might imagine, but worth every minute for a fully fenced yard!


While we were outside, London asked me if I would help her "touch the moon." I lifted her up above my head on tippie toes and we both reached as far as we could. Lately the twins have been learning the use of phrases like "too hot" and "too small" and so this time we settled on "too high."


London disappeared for a little bit. Turns out, she had really taken my words to heart. She went all the way inside and carried her pink stool down two flights of stairs, then set it out so she could try again! Ryan and I were baffled!


We ended up touching the moon in our story book, which the twins decided was "no too high." All day London has been talking about how she touched the moon. I love to think about her little problem solving skills. I will remember last night as one of my favorite mommy moments!

Top Two Fall Staples

This week we welcomed in the season with two of my all-time favorite things.

1-My dad wins the neighborhood pumpkin growing contest every year (he's actually the only entry). He recently gave us some of his prize winners, seatbelted into the car! Is he proud of these things or what?!


I chose this one because it's flat enough for both twins to sit on at the same time...

(Or so I thought.)


2-Prize winning applesauce, my mom could make a fortune selling this stuff. She uses Jonathan apples, and a few other secret ingredients I will not disclose. What we come out with is pink applesauce that's thick, tart, and sweet all at the same time. We'll invite only a select few to sample, because we are keeping most of it for ourselves! :)



Fall is officially here!

London hits a cow!

The 'Before'

Looking back at how we found it, I am puzzled to think our house was built in '97. As first-time home buyers, we had no idea what we were getting into. But here are some tips we picked up from the previous owners.

1. If you really like a specific color (say, for instance, Emerald Green), wait until it's outdated at least ten years, and then completely go to town with it. It may take special effort, but in the end you will be able to come out with slightly different variations of the color for everything, including the carpet, countertops, light switch covers, curtains, plants and plant pots, and curtain rods.


Compliment with stark white walls.



2. Why bother with a shower curtain when you can install glass doors that cloud and mold and conceal everything anyway?



3. If you sheet rock your entire basement and then decide it's too much bother to take the extra 20 minutes to mud and sand, simply track down some wood paneling and install it ON TOP of the sheet rock. You might now be in a pickle with carpeting, so play it safe with your 'Brady Bunch' theme and go with shag. Slap on some unsteady ceiling tiles while you're at it. (Yes, they did.)



4. If you don't turn on your sprinklers, you are able to save money on your water bill, not to mention time from not mowing once your grass turns yellow and stops growing.



And lastly (see above picture)
5. If all three of your side and back neighbors put up fences, why bother with that front side? Especially when you have little kids.

I could go on all night with this, but these few were some of my personal favorites. I get a kick looking back at these. In a couple of days I will reveal a few 'afters', including the one we finished today. So stay tuned!!

A Scary Story

So yesterday afternoon, running around town with the girls..... I picked up a hitchhiker. I am wondering which one of these things my readers will find more shocking, that I attempt to run errands (ha ha), or that I did in fact pick up a hitchhiker.
Here's how this story went down, we're driving through the bank, everything's fine, kids are happy, and I am loving that we are the only car in the whole place. I put my checks in, chatted with the girls a little bit about their new favorite halloween discovery--"punkins!" when I made a little halloween discovery of my own.













Shriek! All this time I was sitting with my window open this spider, bright orange spots and all, was enjoying the view from my side mirror. View of me! Did I mention this type in particular is the jumping spider, native to these parts? By now the bank teller was chuckling to himself, probably due to the loud shriek (make that shrieks, L & M were happy to jump on board) and watching me roll up my window at lightning speed. Then I was at a dilemma...do I pick up my receipt and risk having one of these in my car? I had to. This teller seemed to be amused as I explained why I was freaking out. "Floor it and watch him fly!" he said to me as I was off- flooring it-and watching nothing fly. The little devil was hiding out in the mirror while I was nearing speed-limit doubling rates. To other drivers it must have looked like I was involved in some sort of high-speed chase...with myself. All the while I hear two little voices chanting from the back seat, "GO HOME, spidah, GO HOME spidah!" At least someone was getting a kick out of all the drama. Well, apparently this spider needed a lift to the park because he calmly re-emerged once we entered the parking lot. And two hours later, vanished. I took my car on the freeway twice today, just to be sure. I think it's safe to say we have rid ourselves of this unwanted Halloween visitor. Not an amusing surprise, and not an amusing orange costume.

All Dressed Up

So when you have an 8th grade sewing level, a good project to pick up would be throw pillows, right? Well, after seeing this friend's skills in action, I knew I had to at least try to stretch my abilities. After a couple of attempts (I made two shirts that fit the twins instead of me!), I recruited the help of Ryan's mom, who was willing to give me a refresher course.


And ta-da! Best of all, it fits. My favorite part about this pattern are the cute pockets in front.

(back view) I chose royal blue fabric which funny enough, had no zippers to match. So I went with a hot pink zipper and thread.


And then came across matching shoes for $5. Same color as the twins' shoes, but well, I already borrow their headbands. Thanks Syl for all the sewing tips! Maybe next month you can show me a thing or two about plaid.