Memorial Day

Monday we got the whole crew together for a boat excursion on Lake Austin. Ryan has been talking about buying a boat ever since we moved here, and after renting this baby for three hours, I think I'm on board. Maybe someday!


Yes, we attempted this with four kids under four! As expected, the boat's fast speed thwarted the toddlers' plans to jump out of the boat every few minutes.


Heather and I were first to try out the tube. Warning: this does not allow for holding on with both hands!


Just watch us try to stay on! They lost us around the very first corner.


London and Maddie apparently decided to switch personalities that day. London suddenly became adventurous and obsessed with having a turn on the tube...


While Maddie wanted off the entire time.


Back on board and eating chips with Aunt Heather, life is good.


Ryan shows us how it's done. I was so busy taking pictures of my dare devil I didn't realize he was motioning to slow down! We all have bruises from some pretty good wipeouts, but nothing a little excedrin can't fix. Back at home, the girls actually took a nap and stopped asking to go swimming. I guess they'd had their water fix for the day! I'd say boating was a success for that alone. I hope we go back soon.

Three's a Crowd!

L & M have been to enough birthday parties lately to know it's their turn! We decided to celebrate their third birthday party at Extreme Fun Kids Entertainment Center, which is basically a roomful of inflatables for kids to jump on. We had a great turnout and even though I didn't get many pictures of the events, I think it was a success.


This is how London blew out one of her candles...


And Maddie takes a big breath and somehow misses all the candles.


I love the look on London's face as she opened this necklace. She has not taken it off since.


After the party, we had to try out all the toys at the same time (can you tell it's nap time?)


Why does the lack of a nap always equal more energy? After this we headed straight to the pool to try out all the pool toys.


And witnessed firsthand what happens when helium balloons and a ceiling fan collide (London is still traumatized). As Ryan and I were going to bed that night we realized the same thing had happened to our ceiling fan with the other set of balloons. I thought Ryan was playing a joke on me.


Part two, the next morning.


Thanks to all our guests who came on short notice and brought all the toddlers we love so much. I was so lucky to have my sisters there to help run the show and crank out several batches of cupcakes for the big event. It was a great day and L & M will be talking about it well, at least until Christmas!

The Aunts Come Marching Two by Two...

This week we welcomed two of my sisters for a friendly Austin visit. Allison(L) and Heather(R) made the 22-hour drive here from Provo by themselves late Saturday. I know what most of you are thinking (dad), but never underestimate the Davis family girls' sense of direction! Heather will stay the summer with us to complete her last BYU internship credit at a retirement facility near our house. Hopefully Allison will be back--there is so much more to Austin than we got to show her in two days! The twins couldn't be happier to have an aunt/built in friend living in the bedroom next to them. Free babysitting in exchange for free rent--we'll take it.



...And the other ant story:
It is a little-known fact in Texas (well, little known to me) that if you leave anything with a trace of sugar in your kitchen, out come the sugar ants to run you out of house and home. Since most of our diet of late consists of nothing but sugar, we have seen swarms. The twins will randomly find ants crawling on cereal they left out, and even their baby dolls! I didn't think either of them had noticed until the other day Maddie brought me the rest of her fruit snacks and said, "Here mom, you can give these to the ants." So non-chalantly. I must remember how funny that was!

May Visitors

Last week we had Ryan's parents in town for a few days (though it was probably more of a vacation for us than for them!) The girls swarmed their grandparents from day one and loved every minute of their company. Wednesday the twins and I got a whole day of Ryan's mom to ourselves. We spent the morning in pursuit of Great Harvest Bread, can you believe it? I thought they were only in Utah, which was such a disappointment to my cravings. A little bit of wandering got us right there, and we stocked up on all the bread I'd been missing. Syl also helped me get caught up on grocery shopping and even put together a casserole for dinner while juggling the twins, despite Maddie's seven temper tantrums!
Ryan's dad flew in Saturday and we all went downtown to Phil's Icehouse, one of the best hamburger joints around. Luckily, there is an Amy's Ice Cream next to it, and a little playground for the kids to play on. It was the hottest, most humid day ever! The twins turned lobster red, did we miss that they're allergic to the sun? We finally dumped a bottle of water on Maddie's head and it helped a little, but have a feeling it's going to be a long summer.
The best laid plans to go to Sea World Monday did not happen because Sea World was closed. We decided to go out to San Antonio anyway. It was our first time there and we loved it! We started off the day at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, which is basically an African Safari. They have animals from six of the seven continents, and even a petting zoo. Most of the animals we viewed from the safety of our mini-van, especially the ostriches, but that didn't stop the kids from having a blast feeding them out the door.
Also in San Antonio we were able to take a river boat tour and learn a lot about the history and culture behind the city and architecture. And who can forget the Alamo? It was neat to see in person and inspired us to do more research since we've been home. We topped off the day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant and of course-Wii MarioKart, a staple in any Barlow family get together. I am more of a Wii golf kind of girl, but maybe with some practice can figure out how to maneuver my way around the track. At any rate, thanks for the visit Brent and Syl. We have been missing you a lot around here.

This is how we left it

Our home in Utah, though we are told the snow has melted. Other than that, nothing really has changed, except it's not ours anymore. The papers have been signed, the loan has been finalized, and the new owners are already making use of every inch of footage we so delicately and tastefully renovated. The process of selling our house from a distance of thousands of miles away proved to be a difficult one. As expected, in our desperation to sell we were more generous to this buyer than my instinct told me to be, meeting more financial demands than were really fair. However, it was this same instinct that directed me toward Madelyn-style tantrums every time we came into conflict with the buyer, which in the long run would definitely have proven detrimental. Thank goodness for my Ryan, the rational one, the one who is in fact getting oxygen to his brain these days, who kept reminding me of the big picture. We are making these compromises to sell the house and move on. And finally, today, we did.
In my memory it will always be our home, how can it not? It contains the first bedroom walls I ever painted with my sweet baby girls in mind, a rich shade of yellow I saw the sunshine in. When I rolled the brilliant rays across the walls, I watched scenes of childhood unfold before me like a play, a little preview of memories to come. I knew this home would see their first steps, hear their first words, and be saturated with childhood. What I hadn't realized was how briefly each season would last. Somehow these newborn babies became toddlers well on their way to being little girls. They can construct seven-word sentences. They get lost creating entire imaginary worlds. They know how to express themselves, and that's how I know they know the ache of homesickness. I can't say I blame them. I still wake up in the middle of the night and wish for this home so strongly I can taste it. But I know we will find new walls I can paint and watch memories of this next chapter unfold. I can't wait to look out the window and see my girls riding bikes. I can't wait to answer the door to violin students, I can't wait to hear the details of Ryan's latest film projects, I can't wait to see our little girls as big sisters. Finally, today, we can start looking for just where it will be.

Mothers, Inc.

I hope all of you mothers out there got as pampered as my right foot! :) We figured this year was a success as we finished out the day with no trips to the emergency room (Maddie's Mother's Day head injury, anyone?). Ryan and the girls surprised me with chocolate and a trip to the spa, a much needed break from all the grief little Singleton has given me lately. Yes, the morning sickness still continues! We've also felt very pampered to have Ryan's parents in town for a few days and a Mother's Day dinner. There is nothing quite so refreshing as having grandparents come to visit. I think we are close to being caught up on sleep! More adventures to be posted soon.


And a predicament. What is the difference between your kids stalling at bedtime, and being genuinely afraid of say, monsters? Honestly it has been a year since the girls have even watched Monster's Inc., and what's not to love about our friend Sully? But for these two little girls, monsters have caused a serious bout of insomnia. I keep reading about moms coming up with 'monster spray', which is essentially any substance kids can cloud their room in to keep the monsters away. Since Singleton has been hating potent smells, and tastes for that matter, we went with Fabreze. The girls loved it and even made up a little song about monsters, (Go home, don't bother us monsters!), but alas, the stalling continued. We resorted to what we always resort to after 9pm, threats. Maybe monster spray takes a few days to get the full effect. At least our entire apartment is now drenched in the fresh scent of meadows & rain; for that, we have only our neighborhood monsters to thank.

Strawberry Fields Forever

We took a trip up to the Berry Farm at Marble Falls yesterday and the girls loved it. Lucky for us, the strawberries are in season right now.


The girls did pretty well picking only the ripe ones...


Is it any wonder London's basket didn't get full?!


Enjoying strawberry popsicles with Tyler. Love this guy.


As with any farm, we got to enjoy the animals-goats, chickens, and horses.


Madelyn told me this friendly goat is named- Madelyn!


Home at last, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labors (literally). London's greatest accomplishment of the day was discovering parts of her hair had been turned *pink* by the strawberries! Some girls have all the luck. At any rate, it was a really fun trip for us, and I think it's time to make some jam.