Apple Orchard

We took the kids to on our annual apple orchard excursion today. They had a great time eating doughnuts, sampling apples and other treats in the shops and looking at cute animals.


Their favorite part of the trip was the playground.
E left A right

A

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Neigh Neigh

The kids were supposed to bring apples to school today. I put apples in their backpacks last night so I wouldn't forget. I was cleaning up breakfast and saw the two of them spinning in circles in the family room. Of course they'd gotten into the front hall closet, opened their backpacks, taken out their apples and were eating them. I got them new apples for school. The class was going to eat some of the apples, but was also going to paint with some of them. A&E weren't the only kids who bit their apples before class, but they were the only ones who had taken more than one or two bites and were the only ones who did it while still ate home.

After school I was washing our cloth diapers since we were going away for a few days. Arya decided to forgo clothes after lunch and I heard her yelling "neigh neigh" in the family room. I thought she was being a horse until I walked in to find her trying to str.ip down Eiley. Her "neigh neigh" was actually her telling Eiley to get na.ke.d.

And because it's funny...A throwing a fit before lunch. She did not want her photo taken while she was screaming.

Two Kids One Outfit

Some days I have to be so thankful that my kids keep me happy and smiling most of the day. My favorite thing they did today was strip themselves down after lunch. I thought it was hilarious that they each took something different off and between the two of them they had on a full outfit.

Tonight, Eiley shoved Arya off a chair while I was at the kitchen table. Somehow I managed to move fast enough to grab one of her arms and get my feet under her head so she didn't smack it on the tile floor. I don't know how I managed it, but I'm glad I did.

Twin Beds for Twins

On Sunday night, the girls decided that they wanted to sleep in their new beds. We put them to bed and then we listened for them. They were very quiet, but Cork heard a little thumping, so he checked on them. He found Arya in bed and Eiley laying under Arya's bed. Eiley decided they needed a snack, so we brought them downstairs, fed them and brought them back up. At 9:30, we told them they were done with the new room and we put them in the cribs. They were still quiet, but both were out of bed playing with the socks they'd pulled out of the dresser.

Today, they couldn't decide at nap time where they wanted to sleep. Arya said she wanted her crib and Eiley wanted her new bed. I put them where they wanted and Arya had a rough go. She did not like being in her bedroom by herself. Eventually she decided to join Eiley in their new room. After a short time of playing in their beds, they actually fell asleep in them. Woohoo!

Tonight, they both wanted to go back into the new room and the twin beds and went right to sleep...after they'd gotten up one to eat an enormous snack.

Two For the Show

Arya said her name yesterday for the second time. I'm not sure if I mentioned last week that she had said it for the first time. Today, she made up for lost time. I counted 42 "Ar-Ya"s during a 3 block drive. This was after she'd been saying it for a few miles. I'm sure she got a few hundred "ar-ya"s in today.

I took the kids to a program at our health department called "Two for the Show". I debated if it was something I should do and decided we should at least give it a try. It is the cities way of checking up on as many 2 year olds as possible and making sure any who need early intervention get it. We had a lot of fun! They had stations for brushing teeth, talking, drinking from a cup, staking blocks, throwing balls and all sorts of things. The girls got tooth brushes, stickers, cups, wooden blocks, kleenex, a coloring book and a whole bag full of fun stuff. I'm so glad I brought them.

Because the health department thing was later this afternoon, I cooked dinner around lunch time. The girls helped me start a pot of chili. Eiley was particularly helpful by stirring the veggies with a doll brush before I put it on the stove.

Fall Decorations

I finally got around to getting out my fall decorations today. I managed to time it perfectly when the kids wok eup from their nap. I had just opened the bin when I heard them crying. Of course they wanted to help me decorate, so I handed out items and we went to work. Their favorites included the sticky/gummy window pumpkin things and the stuffed monster door hanger things that they loved so much last year. The blue one in the picture from last year is down to one eye. It had three eyes this time last year.

Go Buppy

We took the kids to the Children's Museum in Madison this morning and they had a blast. They love the children's museum that we go to in Milwaukee, but this one is newer and more importantly, new to them. They ran around from one thing to another just captivated. I think their favorite thing was the rooftop because there were live chickens and doves in cages. Both types of birds were very vocal while we were there and the kids couldn't get enough of them.

This afternoon Cork and I left the kids with their Mema and Beba and got to go to a Badger football game. "Go Buppy" as the girls would say.

No Way

I don't know if they were more excited about the animals or the candy at the zoo today.

My kids heard our neighbor say "no way" today. Both were in the family room when she said it and Eiley came running into the kitchen, where we were, to yell "no way". The fact that she yells this is funny, but the way she says it makes it even better. She has an inflection in her voice during the word "way" that no 2 year old should have. Arya started saying it after she heard Eiley and now we have lots of "no way" "way" arguments between the kids.

Coot

I've been doing this blog long enough that I forget about posts I've done and things I've written about. I took my pictures for today and then planned out in my head what I'd write about. Tonight a friend mentioned on Facebook that she took her twins to the DMV with her and that reminded me of the time I took my kids to the DMV last year. I couldn't remember exactly what the woman said to me, so I looked up my post. Right after that post I found this one. And that one pretty much sums out today's post.

I don't know if I've taken a picture of the kid sleeping in their cribs this year. I snuck in there at nap time, turned on the light and snapped my pictures without them waking up. It's good to know that they'll not only sleep through the construction outside, but also the bright light in their room.

I took the sleeping picture to show that they do eventually calm down and sleep. I love when they sleep because they can't make a mess while they are doing it. I was scooping the cat boxes today and the girls were playing in their room. They quickly emptied drawers from their dresser and then moved down the hall to their new toddler room. All their winter clothes are in the dresser in that room. Or maybe I should say all their winter clothes were in the dresser in that room. I knew they were in there when Eiley walked down the hall with a shirt to tell me is was "coot" (cute).

I need to write soon about their enormous language explosion. The two of them will repeat anything they hear and have new words every day. Coot is one of those words. Another one of them is junk. I told Arya a few days ago that I wasn't giving her junk food. Yesterday I asked her what she wanted to eat and she yelled "junk" then followed it with a huge smile and a laugh.

Painting Fun

Hehehe.


Jokes on me though since they decided that if I did it they could too.

No Yike Dat

I put Arya's plate in front of her at lunch today. She pushed it away and exclaimed "No Yike Dat!" She is definitely a 2 year old. She had roasted chickpeas on her plate, which she loves. She happily ate them after her nap today. She was just getting tired and while she was hungry, she refused to eat just about anything I offered her.

Later in the day, I was letting them color at their picnic table. Eiley ran into the house and slammed the sliding door shut. I went in to get her and by the time I came out Arya had drawn all over herself and was in the process of using green marker like chapstick. She was smacking her lips together after each swipe like she does when she applies chapstick all over her face.

Growth Spurts

The kids have been growing like weeds lately. If they don't slow down, they'll grow out of their 2T pants before winter is done. I'm not sure their tiny frames can hold up 3T pants. So they'll either walk around ready for a flood with 2T or like a '90's rapper in the 3T.

To keep up with their growth, they are eating like crazy. They ate for an hour at lunch today. I figured they wouldn't be that hungry for dinner, but I was wrong. They each ate a decent dinner, some apple pie and then needed 2 snacks before they could fall asleep. They were in bed and crying that they were hungry about an hour after the first snack. Poor kids' stomachs aren't big enough to keep up right now.

Who's Cute

They are so adorable when they decide to wear things like this.

I love to ask the girls who is cute because their responses are great.
Me: Arya, who's cute?
Arya: I E cute!
Me: Eiley, who's cute?
Eiley: R-Ya cute!

The same thing works if I ask them who's trouble and a whole bunch of other fun words.

Hay Ride

We went to an Apple Harvest festival today. The kids had a great time. The highlights of their day were 1) the horses that pulled the wagon on their first hayride 2) the hotdog they got to eat at lunch and 3) the orange balloon monkey they each got for free at one of the vendor tents.

Bye Bye Oinge Tuh

The kids were racing around the house this morning with their strollers. It was so much fun to watch them and so hard to get a picture of them and not their backs as they raced by.

The guys working on our road tore out most of the sidewalk this week. It has become very time consuming to get our mail or get to the van. We have to leave our house 25 or 30 minutes before school starts and their school is only a mile away. Pushing the strollers takes forever and there are so many distractions like the orange truck. I don't think I've mentioned this, but both kids' favorite color is orange. There is one orange dump truck that works on our road right now. They love it and talk about it all the time. When the orange truck isn't outside, I hear "bye bye oinge tuh".

I have to admit that part of our time getting anywhere includes the girls duking it out over which car seat they get to sit in. Arya won today's battle for who could get into the seats and pick first.

Weird Twin Stuff

I was sitting on the couch today with the girls after their nap. I told them we needed to get their socks so we could go to the library. Eiley jumped off my lap and went to get her socks. Instead, she came back with her shoes. I told her we needed her socks before we could put on her shoes, so she went in search for her socks. Arya was very content to stay on my lap and let Eiley find the shoes and socks for her. She was all cuddled in and comfortable holding her blanket. She suddenly lifted her head and said "Elmo". I asked her "What about Elmo?" She said "I-E Elmo" and about 2 seconds later Eiley walked into the room carrying her Elmo doll. There is no way Arya could have seen Eiley before me. Somehow she knew that Eiley had found their Elmo doll and was bringing it to her. Weird.

Crib Goats

I know I will tire of this soon, but right now I love listening to Arya & Eiley's verbal arguments. Today in the car they were arguing about roaring, as in an animals roar.
E: Rooooooar
A: No Rooooooar
E: Rooooooar
A: No Rooooooar
E: Rooooooar
A: No Rooooooar
E: Rooooooar
A: No Rooooooar
E: Rooooooar
A: No Rooooooar
And so on.

It looks like Cork and I may have their toddler room done just in time. They both figured out how to climb out of their cribs tonight after their bath. They were in their cribs jumping so I left the room to hang their towels. I came back into their room less than 30 seconds later and they were both on the floor. Uh oh! I grabbed the video camera and got Eiley going in and out. Arya must have been tired because she just wanted to sit on my lap. When I put them to bed, I explained that they can climb in and out at playtime, but not when they are going night night. Either they were really tired tonight or they understood because only Eiley tried to climb out. I explained to her again that they can't climb out at night night time and she went right back in and stayed there.

Fruit Loops

Do you think she's tired?

The girls got to play with fruit loops at school today. They've never had any sugary cereal like that, so I'm sure they ate a ton while they strung it on pipe cleaners. They both got to wear their bracelets home from school and all the fruit loops were gone by the time we got home.

Inadequate

Some days the kids gang up on me and I feel somewhat inadequate as a parent. Today, the kids ganged up on both Cork and me and we both felt somewhat inadequate. Sometimes it's harder when we are both home because we assume the other has the kids. I assumed Cork had the kids in the basement today but they were upstairs. All of the sudden I heard them saying "yight" meaning light and knew they were up in the bathroom. I ran up to find that they'd covered themselves and the bathroom in stamps. Thankfully it was somewhat washable and came off the mirrors, tile and sink okay. The kids hands and faces were another story.