Trouble with a Capital T

They've found the ice maker. T-R-O-U-B-L-E



In other news, they are both getting really good at using spoons.

Out of the Closet

This picture looks all innocent....





...until you know that Arya has locked Eiley in the kitchen closet.

Playing Pretend

We spent the day at the girls' Grandma and Grandpa's house today, celebrating their great grandma's birthday. A&E had a great time and loved spending the day with everyone. They had such a great time that they didn't nap all day. They seem to be getting pretty good at skipping naps. They're also getting good at playing pretend. Today, they were pretending to drink out of a water bottle.

A Barrette, A Hat and a Platic Tub

The girls were just goofy today. Arya let me put a barrette in her hair that she actually kept there for a few hours.

Eiley on the other hand wouldn't keep anything in her hair, but did want to wear my hat.

Arya spent a good portion of the afternoon sitting in this plastic tub.

And this is just a random picture of chilis I dried from my garden. They smell amazing. Every time I open the jar to get one out, I take a huge breath in. You can smell out spicy they are, but they have the most amazing smell.

Anything and Everything

Some toys just aren't safe from the kids. They just can't resist the urge to throw things in the opening of their ball machine. Today it has a couple real balls in it, but it also had cat toys, tooth brushes and a coffee stir stick. I'm not sure where they got the stir stick. It wasn't mine or Cork's. I'm guessing a family member left it here this past weekend since we had a couple guests. If there is anything left out, these two will find it.

Nog Gone

I gave the girls some soy egg nog today. They sucked their cups dry so fast. They weren't letting any of it go to waste. They reminded me of our cats when we give them tuna cans to lick out. Once each kid was done with her cup, she moved onto her sister's, just to make sure it was empty as well. They went back and forth a couple times before they were satisfied that all the nog was gone.

Hair Woes

I have no idea what is going on with her hair this morning, but it cracks me up.

Blow Your Nose

Eiley has learned to blow her nose. She now thinks it's something to do all day long. I caught her blowing her nose into a fridge magnet today. While funny, it did make a mess. LOL! This morning, she was chasing after Arya with a tissue, trying to get Arya to blow her nose. Arya was playing along for a while, but tired of the game before Eiley did.

Hoop It Up

My non -napping daughters decided they didn't need to sleep again today. *Sigh* Oh well. At least they are sleeping okay at night.

I didn't take a picture today until right before they went to bed. They got a second wind and decided to play some basketball.

Sunday Sillies

Some days Arya and Eiley just crack me up. This morning they were trying to dress themselves.


Then, they found their suits hanging in their bathroom and both wanted them on.


And as they do most days, they flipped their grocery cart to ride on it. I wonder how long it's going to last being ridden like this.

Little Heart Melters

My big girls are starting to sit in their high chairs up at the table like booster seats. Where did my babies go? The last two days, my big girls have decided they don't need a nap. Hopefully this doesn't continue. Yesterday they both had a breakdown around 5:00. They refused to eat dinner and were in bed by 6:00 pm. Today, they were happy until their regular bed time. They were running around, giggling, until we brought them upstairs.

These two are complete buddies. I love watching them interact. While they were not napping, I could hear their squeals of delight from upstairs. When I went up to get them, they had passed toys back and forth, thrown blankets out of the crib, their socks were scattered around the room and their pacifiers were on the ground. They happily jumped up and down when I walked into the room, and pointed at their pacifiers, grunting and laughing to let me know they wanted them. I got Arya out first, she grabs both pacifiers, holds one in the air toward Eiley's crib and calls "Eiiiiiiii-ley". Later today, I was brushing Eiley's teeth. Arya was in the other room with Cork. Eiley wanted to make sure that Arya didn't miss out on the fun, so she started calling "Ara". My heart just melts watching the two of them interact.

Grazers

When I was little, I used to eat part of my meal at breakfast, but not finish it. My mom would put it on the counter and I would go back to it once I was ready to eat again. Arya and Eiley have started to do the same thing. Many mornings, we're at the gym by the time they decide to eat again, so they get a muffin or pancake there. This morning they were ready for their second breakfast before we left the house. Both girls happily helped themselves to leftover pancake while I was getting snacks ready to take with us to the children's museum.

Soap Eater

Eiley slept in this morning, so Arya and I have about an hour to ourselves. When Eiley woke up, I went upstairs to get her and Arya decided she needed to take a reading break. Her favorite place to read a book is in this chair. I find her here at least once a day.


This is also something I find her doing all too often. She likes to grab the soap pumps when I am doing dishes. I figure this will stop when she finally gets a mouth full of soap. I move the soap, but she seems to get it no matter where it is. A few weeks ago she got her first taste of bar soap. To my knowledge, her first taste of that has also been her last taste. She and Eiley came downstairs, both smacking their lips. I knew they'd gotten into something. All our chemicals are high, so I knew it couldn't be anything too bad. I went to see what they ate and found wet soap on the ground. They had pulled it off the back of the toilet. Obviously, there is nothing on the back of toilets now except tissue boxes and I'm sure I'll live to regret that one of these days.

Goggle Goodness

Both kids come up to me now either asking me to put something on them or to show me something they put on themselves. Arya put a hat on this morning and this afternoon insisted that I put on these goggles from my nephew.

Cracker Thief

Eiley now wants out of her high chair at meals even though she's not quite done. I took her out today, she pushed a chair up to the counter and grabbed a cracker for herself while my back was turned. Little stinker.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Eiley stood on this stool today, so Arya did. Eiley moved hers, so Arya moved hers. Eiley stood again, so Arya did too. You get the picture.

This game quickly turned into Trouble! Not long after they started I found them doing this. Eeek! My kitchen counters are no longer safe.

The Knights Who Say Ni

A&E were standing in the kitchen tonight. I don't know who started it, but one of them yelled "Ni". The other one yelled it back. They took turns squatting down and yelling "Ni". I may have little Monty Python fans on my hands.

And just for the fun of it, I thought I'd post a comparison pic of A&E and me around the same age.

Chug A Lug

The girls pull these cups out of the cupboard every single day. I used to wash the cups every time they hit the ground, now I don't. I figured they'd be worn out before the girls ever used them if I continued. Today, I finally put water in the cups for them. They both loved it. They spilled, but I was impressed with how well they did. Both liked over exaggerating their drinking noises while they swallowed the water.

Tunnel Cat

Sikozu has decided he owns the tunnel. If it's out, and the kids aren't in it, he is.

Basket Case

Arya found this basket in our office today. She spent a good portion of the day carrying it around and sitting in it.

Beaners

I made an amazing polenta for dinner tonight and topped it with a squash sauce. I made the mistake of giving each kid a tiny dab of chevre on top of her serving. Arya ate the chevre last week once it was baked onto a pizza, but she usually won't eat it. I thought maybe she'd gotten past her distaste for it. Nope! Guess the baked chevre is different than when it's cold. Poor kid gagged on it and wouldn't touch her dinner again. Instead, she just wanted brownies. Normally I wouldn't give into this, but my niece and I made black bean brownies today. They're basically black beans, oatmeal, cocoa powder and pear with a few other things, including a little bit of honey. So, they're pretty much a complete meal disguised as dessert. She hate a few pieces of that and was done with her dinner.

Disorganization Station

I decided to re-organize the kids toy box today. It was time to take out some things they don't play with and add some things they haven't seen in a while. They had other plans. My two hands can't work as fast as their 4 and they quickly disorganized anything I was trying to organize. I eventually gave up and decided to finish tackling the task once they were in bed.

The Flip Side of Happy

A&E love to read books. They love to read them even more sitting in your lap. If you're laying on the floor, they'll make do and just sit on you.


They quickly went from that, to pacifier thievery.


To fit throwing.

I tend to post pics of the happy times of our day, but we definitely have our fair share of tantrums and bad moods. They are happy children overall, but that doesn't stop them from getting angry and they aren't afraid to let us know when that occurs. I think we better watch out or they'll be ramming us with grocery carts.

Dizzy Dizzy Daughters

We recently pulled out a sit and spin that we bought a couple years ago. We bought it as a gag gift and then found out we were pregnant and decided to keep it. The girls both love when Cork spins them on it. Today, Arya figured out how to spin herself. She started by using one leg to propel herself and held on with her hands, but she quickly figured out she could do it just with her hands and gave up on the leg.

Cold Stuff

I took the kids out into the yard to play today. They were like the little kid from The Christmas Story. When they fell over, neither could get back up. I'd ask them if they were "stuck" and Arya would try to say "stuck". It's so cute to hear her trying to say words after we say them. After not talking for so long, both kids are really starting to gather a vocabulary. Arya is still a little ahead of Eiley in the vocabulary department. She now says wawa (water), nana, papa, nah (no), yeah, mama, dada, kiddy (kitty), ma (more), hi, si (outside), bah (ball) & byebye. When she repeats things, she tries to get the first letter right and then the correct number of syllables. She said "garden" today. I wouldn't have known what it was except I said it first. I know I have to be missing words in there too. I edited this because she just walked next to me, picked up a ball and said "bah", which reminded me that she does say ball.

A Grazing We Go

Eiley will no longer eat off of her high chair tray. If I put something on the tray, she moves it to her bowl. Today, she crawled up into a kitchen chair after her snack. She brought a bowl with her and moved all her leftover pear from the tray to her bowl and then ate it.

Pants Off

Someone has learned how to take her pants off. I do hope this is not a career choice for her.


Someone else was in my bathroom cabinet today.

I was cooking and found the girls rocking themselves in this chair. They were too cute sitting together, so of course I had to run and get my camera.