Ace and Ben's Birthday Express

We celebrated the buddies' third birthday today by inviting our favorite little friends to a train party. Although today was unseasonably cold and windy and rainy, 30 of our little friends showed up, ready to have a good time.


We had a few fun stations set up for the kids. Everyone decorated their very own rice krispie treat train with icing and sprinkles. Ben traveled the tables, looking for left-behind treats, and helped himself when he found one. Ace just liked decorating his. Another fun station was a train bean bag toss. The kids could play as much as they wanted and decorated themselves with their train sticker prizes when they won.


Midway through the party, "Sophie", a 16 inch gauge 1/4 scale miniature train chugged along on the tracks next to our pavilion and picked us up for our special Birthday Party Express. It was amazing to see the joy on all 30 little faces as Sophie rolled to a stop just for us. We piled on and filled her to well over capacity and then enjoyed the scenic 1.3 mile ride. Ben and Ace "choo- choo'ed" and "whoo- whoo'ed" the whole way.

When we arrived back at the party (with the buddies yelling, "Hey, there's our party!"), the very nice conductor let all the kids take turns posing for pictures in the driver's seat.


After that, it was time to sing happy birthday (twice) and cut the cakes. Ace and Ben loved their train cakes that I made for them. The wind kept us from lighting the candles, so we'll have to do a repeat tomorrow. I'm sure the buddies won't mind a bit.


During our drive home, they chattered to each other about birthdays and trains. I asked them if they had fun at their party and Ben said, "Yes! I liked riding the train! It came right to our party!"

Check out all the pictures here.

Happy Earth Day!

In celebration of Earth Day today, the buddies made Earth Day Caterpillars. They were so proud! You can make them at home too!



Supplies:
1 knee-high stocking
dirt
rye grass seed
2 hairbands
1 pipe cleaner, cut in half



Directions:
Ask Mom to mix 3 parts dirt and 1 part seed in a large bucket. While Mom holds the stocking open, scoop the dirt mixture in, filling to 2/3 full. Ask Mom to tie off the stocking and trim the edge. Wrap two hair bands around the body of the caterpillar, creating sections. Poke pipe cleaners through the head as antennae and curl the edges around your finger. Water daily and watch your friend grow green hair!


Soon enough, we'll find out if the buddies have green thumbs.

A Sleepy Conversation

I overheard this on the monitor today, minutes after bedtime:

Ace: Benny?
Silence
Ace: Benny?
Silence
Ace: Benny?
Silence
Ace: What are you doing over there, Benny?
Ben: Ben is trying to sleep, Ace.
Ace: Benny?
Ben: Close eyes, Ace.
Ace: Ok, Ace closes eyes and mouth.
Ben: Ben closes eyes and mouth too.
Ace: I'm doing it, Benny.
Silence
Ace: Benny?
and so on...

Volente Beach Waterpark

Grandma and Grandpa are in town and joined us on an adventure to Volente Beach Waterpark on Lake Travis. Austin's only water park is just 9 miles from our home and we've been waiting for a good opportunity to check it out. Today was opening day and the park was free to all, so it was the perfect time.

The best part about the park is the sandy beach along the lake with tiki umbrellas and lounge chairs. We arrived as the park opened and took our pick of the spots. The water was still a bit cold, but that didn't stop the buddies from splashing and playing, though they didn't care to get much past knee deep. We spent a good amount of time in the lake before exploring the rest of the park. Steve and Grandpa tried out one of the three water slides, only to have to walk back up because the water pressure was too low. I guess the park works out some of the kinks during "free day". The buddies both liked the pirate ship toddler area, the swimming pool, and the spray ground.

We brought our own picnic lunch, which we enjoyed under our tiki umbrella, and then headed back to the lake, which was easily our favorite part of the park. It was a great outing!

Check out the rest of our pictures here.

Circus Day!

Today was Circus Day at the buddies' school. Each class was assigned a time for their party in the special circus room. All morning, their class activities centered around the circus theme, so when it was time to "go to the circus", the kids were really excited. I arrived a few minutes early, to walk with the class. All ten kiddos were chattering about going to the circus.

At the party, the kids could watch a real circus on the big screen, wear clown wigs or animal masks, crawl through hoops (or use them as hula hoops, as our boys did), try their hand at a clown bean bag toss game, or just dance around and revel in the festivities.

Ace and Ben's teacher and I unofficially manned the bean bag toss for a short while. Several kids tried it unsuccessfully. Miss Dana and I faulted the poor design - the bean bags were disproportionately large, relative to the holes. Miss Dana even tried a few times and vowed to suggest smaller bean bags next year. Then, Ace marched up and tossed three consecutive bean bags through the hole. Miss Dana's jaw dropped. The kid is a machine. He can't wait to turn three so he can play sports and I can't wait to watch.

The Tale of the Tea Party, The (mis)Adventures of Flat Stanley, and "Taking Off a Boo Boo"

What a day. I have a million things to do before Grandma and Grandpa's arrival tomorrow, but I simply must chronicle today's events, lest someone not believe me later.

Today began like most any other day. The buddies were up and ready to party at 6:50am. They were anticipating today's morning outing: a tea party with the Fearsome Threesome at Miss Annie's house. We received the invitation earlier in the week and they were pumped. We donned our special tea party clothes and headed out early. We had a quick errand to run. You see, Flat Stanley is visiting us for the next few weeks, and we have a long list of Austin sites to show him. Since Miss Annie's house isn't too far from downtown, we decided to drive Flat Stanley by the Capitol building on the way and snap his picture. It was an uneventful drive most of the way, but as we approached our exit, one of my tires blew. So, there I was, in late rush hour traffic, on the top deck of IH35 with two kids and Flat Stanley and a shredded right rear tire. We made it safely to the shoulder and parked, ironically, just beneath the "State Capitol Building --->" sign. Steve heroically came to our rescue and had us back on the road within in an hour. And he agreed that the buddies shouldn't miss their tea party, so he volunteered to trade cars with me tomorrow and take mine in for a new set of tires. It is so nice to have a nice husband!

After a slow ride on our donut tire, we arrived at the Fearsome's house, ready to play. The buddies had a grand time in their front yard on their motorcycles, cars, and roller coaster. Then, we stirred up their playroom for a bit, while Miss Annie set the table. What a tea party it was! Both boys loved drinking "tea" (organic fruit juice) out of little cups and really liked Miss Annie's spread of mini muffins, berries, cucumber sandwiches, and mini cupcakes. She even had a real tablecloth on the kid's table. It was such a nice touch, especially since it inevitably soaked up lots of "tea" and ground up snacks. It was the cutest thing in the world to see the five friends enjoying a cup 'o tea and all that goes with it. And I savored Annie's fancy organic Aveda tea - it was the perfect calming beverage after the morning I'd just had. We enjoyed the tea party very much and I have a feeling the boys will ask for their own set of tea cups before their upcoming birthday.

After several hours of fun, we said our goodbyes and started our slow drive home. Ben fell asleep while Ace was rested quietly in his car seat. We were almost home when Ace said, "Mommy, I took off my boo boo!". And, I said, "What???" and turned around to see him holding out a perfectly peeled scab in a pincher grip. "I took off my boo boo!" he said again. Grrreeeaaat... At a stoplight, I turned around to see bright red blood gushing down his arm. Ace saw it too, and started to sob pitifully. The pitiful sob turned into an all-out hyperventilating shriek in the final five minutes of our trip.

When we arrived home, we washed it off, sprayed it with Bactine, and bandaged it up with one of our brand new bandages, given to us yesterday in a massive 195-bandage package from our neighbor who works at 3M. He's seen us riding trikes and scooters in front of our house nearly every evening over the past month. Although we barely know him, he walked the mega bandage package over yesterday and told me, "It looks like you could use these a lot more than I can." Thanks Mr. Rich! 1 down, 194 to go!

And that concludes the story of our day. Here's to a less-eventful tomorrow.

Our 6th Anniversary

What a beautiful Spring day we had today! Steve and I celebrated 6 years of marriage by spending almost the entire day outside with the kids. We began the day by taking the buddies to their favorite park. Then, we headed to The Oasis, a restaurant just 5 miles from our house that boasts the best view on Lake Travis. We sat on the patio and took in the lovely scenery while we all enjoyed our lunch.

After a quick, snuggly nap on the couch with the kids, we hiked Mount Bonnell. The last time we hiked to it's peak, we carried the buddies on our backs. This time, our load was lighter since they enjoyed running up all by themselves. Next time, they may have to carry us.

Ben and I stopped to watch the boats on the Colorado River. There were so many today! When we reached the top, we met up with Steve and Ace and enjoyed the view of the Austin skyline.

We ended the day with some backyard time. Steve grilled steaks and hot dogs while I did some light yard work and the buddies played with their cars on the deck. Then, we enjoyed our supper together on the deck as the sun began to set. It was a perfect anniversary.

Wild Animals and Wild Rock Stars

The buddies and I joined the Austin Mothers of Multiples for our third trip to the Austin Zoo this morning. Each Spring, the group embarks on the zoo for a lovely day of animals, train rides, picnics and twins. It is always a hoot.

This morning was no exception. When we arrived, we wandered the zoo, taking in all the animals. Ace's favorites were the monkeys. Ben liked the "animals", which meant goats in the petting zoo. The Austin Zoo isn't the biggest zoo in the world. The luckiest of visitors catch a glimpse of each of the main attractions: the lions, the tigers, the bears (oh my!) and the leopards, assuming they aren't hiding in their caves. Today, we managed to see two lions, one leopard, and three tigers. We even caught the tigers eating lunch, which was really exciting for our toddler crowd. Then, we headed to the train depot and enjoyed the lovely twenty minute ride through the hill country.

To end the day, we joined our across-the-street neighbors for dinner. While the kids played, the grown-ups played Rock Star on their X-Box. Steve was impressive on the drums and the game voted me "most energetic" when I belted out "Creep" by Radiohead. I think "most energetic" is code for "sings really badly but with enthusiasm".

Big Kid Beds!!

The buddies are so proud of their new beds! And it has been one of our easiest transitions yet. I'll admit I was concerned that they wouldn't stay in bed once we made the switch, especially since this pair of best friends share a bedroom, but tonight is night 4 and they've climbed in and gone straight to sleep each night. Their biggest concern on their first night was that all of their friends and "stuff" would still be in their beds. I assured them that "Mooberry" and "Grant" and "Thunder" and "Lee" and their white blankets and blue blankets and special pillows could still come to bed with them. I don't think they fully trusted me until we tucked them in that first night.

Ace took to his sheets and covers right away, but Ben preferred to sleep on top of everything for the first few nights. And Ace has fallen out three of the four nights. Twice, he never made a sound and we've just found him passed out on the floor. It's a little sad, so if it continues we'll invest in a good bed rail until he adjusts.

<--- And just for fun, a cute picture of Ben riding his trike this morning during our bike ride play date. It was a hoot to see 14 of our little friends on their wheels all at once.

Catching Up

Has it already been 2 weeks since my last post? Goodness, I am behind. We are transitioning to big-kid beds and it appears that the buddies are dropping their nap. That means I've lost my three hours of "free" time each day that I used to use for house work, yard work, meal preparations, laundry, work for my non-profit twin moms group, and yes, blogging. I'm sure we'll all adjust to our new schedule soon. In the meantime, I'll catch up on our recent activities with a few pictures.

Easter Egg Hunt #1: The buddies had a blast at Mia and Alex's house.

Fun with Twin Friends at the Austin Nature and Science Center: *Side note: Have you ever come across a random shoe and wondered to yourself just how exactly a person can lose a shoe and not notice? It happened to us. We had 6 shoes total in our three-person party when we began the outing and only made it home with 5. The buddies each got a new pair the next morning (it was time anyway) and are very proud of their "big shoes".

Easter Egg Hunt #2: Our first attempt at an egg hunt play date was rained out so we brought our baskets to the park the next week and had a blast. Since none of the moms much care for candy, we filled the eggs with stickers and toys. Ben found what was probably the only egg with jelly beans, discarded the rest of his eggs, sat down, and ate. Before long, he had a small crowd of friends surrounding him to share.

Just a cute picture of Ben and one of his favorite girlfriends, Kylie. Isn't she pretty?

Grandpa's surprise 60th birthday party. It was a blast! Grandma hired a band, catered lots of good food and tapped a keg in their neighbor's barn. We got to catch up with family and friends (and a few friends that are practically family) and surprise Ace and Ben's terrific Grandpa with our visit. Happy birthday, Pop!

The buddies, checking out Grandpa's new boat. I think they liked it.

Whew! That brings us back up to date. :)