Butter Face

Eiley thoroughly enjoyed her snack this afternoon. She wasn't shy at all about making sure every last piece of almond butter had been licked from her cracker. I think she needs to get a little more efficient at it.

Card Sharks

A&E are total goofballs. I love that I have two kids who are constantly getting into things and keeping me on my toes. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that we laugh and applaud when they do goofy things, which just makes them want to do more.

Meows the Word

I may have over done something in this household because I wanted the girls and cats to get along. I have always told the girls to "say hi to the kitty". I must have over done that a little bit. Every time a cat walks in the room they say "hi" to him. It's not a simple "hi" though. It starts at a normal volume and then gets louder and louder and louder.

Arya is starting to make animal noises. I ask her to bark like a dog and she gives these tiny little woofs. I ask her to sound like a monkey and she does a little who who haha. I ask her to meow like a cat and she says "hi." LOL!

Sidecar Sally

We already have tricycles for the girls for Christmas, but I think we should have bought them one of these bikes instead. The only problem is that they probably would have fought over who gets to drive and who has to ride bitch.

It's Beggining to Look A Lot Like Christmas

We took the kids to a holiday event at a hotel downtown tonight. They had a Santa and Mrs. Claus for the kids to visit. There were carolers and a tree lighting of a beautiful, big tree. There was a seperate room with egg nog, champagne, hot chocolate, cookies and cupcakes to decorate and art projects to work on. All of the food and drinks were free and amazing. The cookies and frosting were made with butter. The hot chocolate was real hot chocolate and not a powdered substance, mixed with water, that somewhat resembles chocolate. This is an event we'll be attending for years to come.Eiley dug right into her decorated cookie.

Arya needed a little more prompting, but then decided she wanted it.

Happy Thanksgiving

We didn't get a family photo today until all four of us were really worn out. We had a great day with family and great food.

Table Dancing

We drove to my parents' house today and did not bring high chairs for the girls. Instead, they get to sit at their own little kid table. They were pretty excited about this. They spent all afternoon climbing the chairs and table and standing on them. I'm not sure if they spent more time standing on them or tipping off of them.

Girl Gone Wild

This should bring back memories for my parents. The girls refused to nap today and when I went to get them, Arya was sitting there without a shirt on. She was very proud of herself.

Twin Poopers

Some of the "twin" things A&E do are pretty funny. I think my favorite is when they poop together.

A Love Affair

A&E are in love with our oven. Any time they notice there is something baking, they have to kiss the oven door. Today, they got to stare through the door at an apple pie and then at roasting cauliflower. Both turned out amazing and I'm not sure which they enjoyed eating more.

Arya decided to try to ride the vacuum today. I think she may have been trying to tame it.



Eiley didn't want to be out done, so she took her turn on the vacuum as well.

Playing With Fire

We've been without matches in this house for way too long. Lighting the grill was done by lighting a candle inside the house, then lighting a stick or leaf outside and throwing that into the grill. You probably don't want to hear about the flaming torch that goes through the house to light the fireplace.

Today, we finally remembered we needed to buy matches. Cork took Eiley out to get some. She carried them through the store, in her car seat on the way home and into the house. She had no intentions of giving up her priced package when we wanted to open the box.

Mischievous Monkeys

How can you not laugh at kids like this...

They love to lay on the floor and both kick their legs while giggling.

They both love to cuddle, even if they have to do it like a double decker.

They are always leaving me surprises, like qtips from my bathroom thrown into the dishwasher...This makes me really scared about what is going to be flushed down the toilet.
They found the cat carrier today and were fighting over who got to go in it. So, of course I got the second carrier out of the basement.
The carriers were out because Ingogh went back to the vet yet again. We now know that his UTIs are not UTIs. His bladder is inflamed because he's stressed. We have a couple things we can do to try to fix this, one of which is an antidepressant. How ridiculous is that?

Tea For Two

The girls still have an obsession with tea. Yesterday, Cork came home to me brushing off E outside. She was covered in tea from a bag she'd bit open. Tonight, I was cooking dinner when Arya ran into me with her grocery cart. I looked down and this is what I found. I hadn't even heard them get into the tea cabinet. I also thought I'd moved the tea high enough that they couldn't reach it. Obviously I was wrong.

Laaaaasie

I was cleaning up from breakfast this morning when Arya came to get me. She was tugging on my pants and saying lots of "ugh ugh ugh ugh". I could tell she wanted me to follow her, so I dried off my hands and appeased her. This is what she led me too. LOL!

Eiley was very happy in the tub until I walked away to get my camera.

Lions and Tigers and ...Well, Maybe Just Cats

We went to the zoo today and saw all types of big cats. The year old tigers were playing in their outside enclosure. One of them ran at the glass and jumped right at us. The kids loved it! The lions were inside, but right up against their glass. While we were there, the girls got their first introduction to the birds and the bees. The lions were mating and a father explained it to his two young daughters in medical terms. There was talk of ovaries, ovulation, and much much more. In my opinion, it was all very age appropriate for his daughters. At the end of his explanation I told him that it was refreshing to hear someone tell their children the truth. He told me that I should come to the zoo in the summer and listen to some of the "garbage" other parent's tell their kids.

Identical Education

When we are out, I always get asked if the girls are twins and that's almost always followed by whether or not they are identical. The following information comes from here.

■Monozygotic (MZ) multiples (can be twins or higher-order multiples) were created when one fertilized egg split to form two or more embryos.
■Dizygotic (DZ) or trizygotic (TZ) multiples were created when two or more eggs were fertilized.
■Triplets and higher-order multiples can be any combinations of monozygotic and di/trizygotic.

Monozygotic multiples are commonly known as “identical” and di/tri/quadzygotic are known as “fraternal.” Some people assume that because 2 kids are "identical" that they are the same in every way. This is not true. When an egg splits, the two new eggs go down their own genetic path. The DNA can change in very simple ways. Besides that, there are internal and external conditions that make the two new individuals exactly that, Individuals.

Did you know:

■that monozygotic twins have more variation in birth weight than dizygotic twins, but by age 10 monozygotic twins are closer in weight and height than dizygotic twins?
■there are more sets of female monozygotic twins than male sets, and more sets of female conjoined twins than male sets?
■for most cancers, the risk of getting cancer isn’t any higher even if your twin has it
■even though monozygotic multiples aren’t supposed to run in families, there are some cases where it seems to recur in families or to occur more often than expected in families with dizygotic multiples
■language delays and learning disabilities seem to be more common among multiples
■dizygotic twins may run in families and may be passed down by both men and women (with men they can pass the trait to overovulate to their daughters)
■there are mirror image twins where some traits are opposites (one is left-handed and one is right-handed, one has hair that parts on the left and one on the right, etc)

We have never had the girls tested but the pathology report from their birth proves that they are identical.

Have a Nice Trip

I remember my sister purposely tripping our little brother on day, over and over again in our kitchen. Each time she would say "Have a nice trip, see you next fall." I think this is going to be in A&E's future. Arya's new favorite game is to "jump" off of the fireplace hearth. Eiley loves to laugh while Arya does this, but she isn't as excited to participate.

You can see Arya's new game here.

Kitchen Essentials

Three things said in our house today:
"Hey, nuhnuhnuhnuhno beer!"
"Don't put your fork in your ear."
"Don't stab your sister with your fork."

The girls have an obsession with eating utensils and with pulling things out of the fridge door the second it's opened. I think 15 months may still be a little young for them to start drinking beer.

Baby Non-Proof

Baby locks are not baby proof in this house. I watched E tear a lock off of one cabinet today and then snapped a photo of her as she tried to put it back on another cabinet.

Bonus: Dress Up

I guess my niece tired of dressing A&E up already. She wasn't at my house for more than 10 minutes before she was bringing me things to put on.

The Climb

If they think they can, then they can't resist climbing something.

Instructional Listening

Even though Arya and Eiley don't say many verbal words, they definitely understand what we are saying. Today, Eiley took a much longer nap than usual. When she got up, Arya had already nursed and had a very large snack. I sat on the couch to nurse Eiley and she threw her pacifier. Arya picked it up and put it in her mouth even though she usually only gets a pacer if she is going to sleep.
Me: Arya, take the pacer out of your mouth please.
Arya: Dramatically pulls the pacer out.
Me: Laughing. You have cracker in your mouth. Can I have that?
Arya: Pulls the cracker out of her mouth with her open hand and hands it to me.

LOL! I wanted the pacer, not the cracker, but I had mentioned the cracker and she was following my directions.

Little Moo Moos

How stinkin' adorable are A&E's new diaper covers? I wasn't going to take a pic of them until later today, but decided to snap the picture as soon as I put the diapers on. It's a good thing I did because E decided to destroy the cover about 5 minutes after the picture was taken.

Purple Princess Mowers

I just have to teach them to clean up under their high chairs and we'll be all set.

I painted A&E's nails today. Their fingers are so cute with purple polish. Don't think I'm going too girly with them. After the polish, I took them outside and they pushed kid lawn mowers around the yard.

New Games

A&E have a few new favorite games.
1) Rocking the cat in the blue chair
2) Giving the cats their socks of shoes
3) Crawling backwards

Brussels

A&E had chicken, carrots and purple potatoes for lunch. It's all really good with a nice dijon lemon marinade. They loved it the other night, but wouldn't touch it today. I put a little pad of butter in the middle of their food and of course they each found that first. As a back up, I gave them brussel sprouts. They were both more than happy to eat that and completely ignored the other food on their tray.

Uggs For Me, Not For You

A&E tried on their Auntie's Uggs this weekend. E loved them, A did not. E wanted to keep them on and walk in them. A wanted them off, so she fell over and signed "all done".

Stair Masters

Both girls now love to try to walk up the stairs. They don't get very far. They basically stand up, hold on and put one leg on the next step. I've yet to see them actually finish that step up.

The other day E was throwing food off of her tray at lunch. I usually just ignore them when they do this in hopes that it won't get too bad. That day I'd had enough and didn't want her to continue. I pursed my lips, cocked my head a little and then slightly shook it back and forth. Eiley's response was to stop what she was doing, very slowly shake her head "no" at me, grin with her eyes and mouth and then proceed to throw food on the floor. I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed. How do you not laugh at something like that?

Both kids are amazing me on how they are learning things so quickly all of the sudden. I signed bread to them the other day. I honestly don't think I've ever signed it to them before. Arya stoppeed what she was doing and tried to sign it back to me. They both also stacked 2 blocks out of the blue yesterday. I've been showing them how, but they've only been interested in knocking them down, not stacking.

The Destroyers

The Destroyers were at it again today. I organized my kitchen pantry while they napped. You know, their whole 40 minute nap for the day. I think they may have some sort of sonar or radar or something for when a room or cabinet has just been cleaned. They raided the pantry the second they got down stairs and spread pasta every where.

Queen Mab and Her Dragon

My niece is dressing up Arya and Eiley again. A neighbor gave us costumes after Halloween that should fit the girls over the next couple of years. If they don't wear them for Halloween, they can wear them to dress up. Arya was not amused to be a dragon, but Eiley stayed in her fairy costume for hours. She wore it when she went with me to vote.