Our 5th Anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 5th anniversary today, Friday, April 13th. Neither of us are superstitious, but as we set the date almost 6 years ago, we did discuss the ramifications of anniversaries on Friday, the 13th. Looking back, I remember discussing that our first "unlucky" anniversary would be our 5th and that even if it was a terrible day, we'd have five years of solid foundation under our belts and therefore our marriage would survive.

Today was not a terrible day! In fact, it was a pretty good day. The buddies and I had a good time during the day and were even able to work in a good deed by delivering dinner to a friend with two sick kids and a sick husband. Steve made it home from work in time to spend some time with the buddies and then help me cook our anniversary dinner. The menu was Beef Wellington, Shrimp Scampi Bake, and Parmesan Green Beans. It was delicious and I ate too much, but my kind husband is in the kitchen doing the dishes while I type this and let the food settle.

Since traditional 5th anniversary presents are supposed to be made of wood, I gave Steve two pictures of the buddies in wooden picture frames for his desk at work and he gave me a nice card (paper is made from wood, after all).

All in all, it was a happy anniversary and I can honestly say that each year of marriage has been better than the last.

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny brought the buddies all kinds of goodies this year. He was kind enough to hide their eggs indoors, since Austin experienced record low temperatures. We even had snow flurries and sleet early Easter morning and you'll notice in our pictures that the buddies are dressed in their winter pj's. I had almost packed them away for the season a week ago.
Two stuffed bunnies, four baskets filled with goodies, and one inflatable bunny rabbit made for two happy little boys.

Ben likes marshmallow peeps for breakfast.

Ace thought it was great fun to eat candy for breakfast.

Yes, Aunt Carlee, the Easter Bunny remembered to hide eggs in their shoes. Ben LOVED that!

An Egg Hunt Play Date

This morning, the buddies and I met some of our friends at a park for a play date and Easter egg hunt. First, everyone played on the play- ground equipment. As usual, our two loved climbing and sliding.

Once everyone had arrived, the big kids hid the eggs for the little kids and we had our hunt. Ace filled his bucket fast and then started putting eggs in Ben's bucket. Ben was collecting eggs too, but he'd stop every few seconds to open one or slide down a slide or play with dirt. Ace also tasted his first chocolate candy (a Hershey Kiss) and immediately said and signed, "more, more, more".

Once the egg- hunting festivities were complete, we had a nice picnic lunch and let the kids play some more. Ace and Ben discovered a big puddle under the picnic area and had a blast jumping and splashing. I thought it was a hoot and took lots of pictures. Then, some of the other kids came over to join in on the fun and their moms said, "Oh no. We don't splash in puddles." Really? Are kids not supposed to get dirty any more? Granted, I did have strip off Ben's soaking wet shorts and have him ride home in his diaper. But, it seemed worth the smiles to me.

Coloring Easter Eggs

In last month's edition of Parents Magazine, a mom wrote in with this tip for coloring Easter eggs with toddlers: Do it in the bathtub! I love it!

So, this afternoon, the buddies and I headed upstairs with three cups filled with egg dye and 12 hard- boiled eggs. I cleared the bathroom of all our bath time toys, rugs, and towels, draped the shower curtain up high, dressed myself in old clothes, and stripped the buddies down to their diapers. What fun they had! It took them about 5 seconds to figure it out and then they were dunking away.


When they'd colored all twelve eggs, I just stripped off their diapers and filled the tub with water to scrub them down. Easy and relatively mess- free! Of course, both boys are still speckled with red, blue, and yellow dye. Ben even has a big pink spot on the back of his head and Ace's feet look just like our eggs (thanks to Ben dumping the entire cup of blue dye on them). I'll have some explaining to do at Ace's 9:00 speech therapy appointment tomorrow morning.

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Our (Practice) Bluebonnet Photo Shoot

My twin mom's group hired a professional photographer to take bluebonnet photos of our families this weekend. Our time slot is late tomorrow morning but we had a practice run today. Tonight, we'll give haircuts to the buddies, iron our outfits, whiten our teeth, and be ready to look good tomorrow. If the photographer can capture all four of us with our eyes open, looking in the same direction, and smiling tomorrow, he'll be a hero.

Hunting Easter Eggs

The buddies enjoyed their first Easter egg hunt this morning at their friend Mia's house. They were good egg hunters! Ace ran quickly and efficiently from egg to egg, scooping them up and putting them in his bucket. When he had an overflowing bucket with no room for more eggs, he solved the problem by shaking his bucket so all the eggs flew out. Then, he started over, quickly scooping them back up.

Ben was also a quick egg- gatherer, although he did stop a few times to play with his HESS truck that we couldn't get away from him before we left our house. He'd pick up a few eggs and then stop for a few minutes to scooch his truck around the yard.


After the yard was cleared of all the eggs, the buddies chowed on jelly beans and cake and decorated Easter door- hangers. Then, we headed home for a quick nap before our afternoon festivities began.

Buddy Day

Every day is Buddy Day in our house, but today was even more so. We started our day with a trip to Georgetown to join our friends for a play date. They played with trains (imagine that!), made a cute Easter egg craft, and ate snacks just like Daddy does (while hovering over the kitchen counter). Their friends had a learning tower, a cool contraption that allows toddlers to stand at counter-level to "help" mommy cook. I'm not sure that we're ready for one of these at our house (there is a reason toddlers are short!), but they sure thought it was fun to stand so tall.

Then, the sun came out late this afternoon after weeks and weeks of rain. I decided to rake the leaves in our backyard and the buddies helped me load my piles into bags. When they grew bored of that, they decided to have their first swim of the season. Since it was an impromptu decision, so they swam sans-swimsuits. We'll have to remember to clean up our act before we hit the public pools this summer.

Rain, Rain, Go Away? Nah, let's play!

After a successful trip to the pediatric dentist this morning, the buddies and I treated ourselves to a playdate at Brushy Creek Lake Park. It's one of our favorite summertime parks because of an awesome sprayground, but today our plan was to explore the play area in dry clothes.
That plan really didn't work out for us. It was drizzling rain when we arrived and every few minutes it would really pour. All of our little friends huddled together in the covered picnic area, either because their moms told them to or because they just didn't want to get wet. What did Ace and Ben do? They ran around in the rain, yelping with joy. They stomped and splashed in the puddles. They slid down the wet slide (fast!). And they asked for swing rides in the wet swings. When we left, I had two very wet, but very happy little boys in the car.

Fun with Daddy

The buddies spent a lot of time with just Daddy last weekend since I spent Saturday morning at my cooking club and Saturday evening with friends at a movie. They learn some unusual things from their dad. Here's what Steve and the buddies proudly showed me when I returned:

Steve: How does the train go?
Buddies: Choo-choo (pumping arms)

Steve: How does a car go?
Buddies: Beep-beep! (arms out front as if honking horns)

Steve: How does Brian Westbrook go?
Buddies: Ta-da! translation: touchdown! (arms held high above heads)

Steve: How does Reggie Brown go?
Buddies: Silent but waving arms in the sign for first down.

Can anyone guess which lessons they learned from their dad and which from me? Hmmm...

Spring Break at Grandma and Grandpa's House

The buddies and I are home after four fun- filled days at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Lake Texoma. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and began to unpack our suitcase filled with swimsuits and sunblock only to see Grandma shake her head and get jackets for all of us. It was definitely too cold for swimming, even in the kiddie pool, but we had several beautiful days nonetheless.

Grandma had lots of activities set up for the buddies. By far, their favorite activity was jumping on the inflatable aqua trampoline that was set up in front of the house. They bounced and bounced. Ben can't wait until summer when we can put it in the water and let them jump off and splash.

We went for lots of walks while we were there. We left the strollers behind and let the buddies roam free. Ace loved his horsey tire swing at Granny Jean's swing park and both boys thought it was fun to walk up and down her bridge that Grandpa helped build. Another favorite spot was Buncomb Creek Park, where Grandma had loaded the big sandbox with lots and lots of trucks. Anyone that knows the buddies knows that they love cars, trucks, and trains. If it has wheels, they want to play with it.

We enjoyed lots of family time with Aunt Carlee, cousin Michael (who the buddies adore!), Great- Granny, Great- Gramps, Grandma and Grandpa. Ben followed Micheal around quite a bit and Michael was very sweet to him.

We are happy to be back home and in our normal routine, but I think it's safe to say that the buddies love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Happy Birthday to Matthew

The buddies attended another birthday party this afternoon. Their friend, Matthew turned 2! Matthew has older twin brothers and his mom is a pro at showing kids a good time. There were fun things for kids of all ages at the party. Ace and Ben were so occupied that Steve and I were able to relax, chat with friends, and even drink a few beers.

Ace loved the backyard, where there was a huge play scape with a rock- climbing wall (yes, he could climb it!), several tall slides, a basketball goal, a sandbox, swings, and lots of tricycles. He was in heaven running around back there. He is starting to talk (of course - now that we have him in speech therapy!) and ran around jibbering to himself and anyone who would listen.

Ben, who is our more methodical boy, eyed the train table in the playroom and played quietly there for most of the afternoon. While he played he sang, "choo- choo". He was so obsessed with the trains that he wouldn't eat dinner and wasn't even interested in birthday cake. Steve finally convinced him to check out the backyard and he decided that was fun too. But, after 5 minutes of playing outside, he realized how hungry he was so he sat at the kiddie picnic table and helped himself to some other toddler's big plate of food. It's a good thing we're not afraid of cooties.

Our Tax Dollars at Work

Since the buddies are almost two (!) and still not talking a whole lot, Steve and I decided to have them evaluated for a speech delay. Speech delays are quite common in twins, due to prematurity (not us!), shared time with caregivers, and my favorite reason: twin-speak. The buddies do have their own little language and as my wise, fellow twin-mommy friend says, "Why should I talk if my best friend understands me?".

Two wonderful therapists from ECI came to our home and played with the buddies for close to 3 hours. They tested each boy's vision, hearing, self-help / adaptive skills, cognitive skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, expressive communication, receptive communication, and social & emotional skills. After the comprehensive evaluation, they concluded that Ace qualifies for services but Ben does not. Ace is a little delayed in expressive communication but doing well in all other areas (including receptive communication - he understands everything!). So, twice a month, our therapists will come to our house and play with Ace (while Ben eavesdrops on the fun, I'm sure).

Marshmallow Free-For-All

This is what I get for leaving the buddies alone for 2 minutes when a bag of marshmallows was within reach. I've never seen two kids stuffing their mouths so fast...

Austin Children's Museum

This afternoon, the buddies took us to the Austin Children's Museum, which is free after 4pm on Sundays. We all had such a good time that we may have to rotate it in to our regular weekend activities.

The museum is packed with fun, educational exhibits for its pint-sized visitors. The buddies quickly found the tunnel slide and could have spent the entire afternoon there, had we not steered them towards other exhibits. They went grocery shopping in the Global Market and cooked a tasty meal of real-looking pretend food for us in the Global Diner. They found stations where they could sit on little chairs at little desks and build with blocks or learn about parabolas, bell curves, and ovals. They even milked a fake cow and then delivered the milk bottle to the market. Both enjoyed splashing with pretend fish in the "Splish" exhibit.

There was little doubt what their favorite part of the museum was. Overhead, an electric train ran on tracks above the main part of the museum. Every time it went by, they stopped in their tracks and looked up. After climbing a short flight of stairs we discovered the train depot, where the buddies could restart the train by pressing a button and make the "woo-woo" sound by pulling a cord. Best of all, the could observe the train chugging along up close through the observation glass. They seem to have inherited the train- loving gene from Great- Grandpa Jeff.

Golfing with Daddy

The buddies had fun at the driving range with their dad today. They watched patiently from their stroller while he hit balls and even joined in on the fun and threw their golf balls onto the driving range. When Daddy was finished they "helped" him chip and putt. I think we're ready for Easter egg hunting.

Lottery Un-Lucky

The buddies have decided they might like to try a 1 or 2 day / week pre-school in the fall. After calling all of the programs in our area, I discovered that most registered in early February and are already full. Early February! We're talking about pre-schools beginning after September 1st! I can barely think past two weeks into the future, much less 7 months. Anyway, my phone calls resulted in two programs of interest: one that registered this morning and another that has on-going registration but still has at least 2 openings in the young 2's class.

This morning, the buddies and I skipped our regular playdate and headed over to our first pre-school registration. As we entered, we were given a number and told to have a seat with the other 100+ families there, vying for spots. At 10:30, the pre-school director began calling numbers at random and those lucky families went to the front to register their children. Parents and children anxiously awaited their numbers and cheered when they "got in". The buddies and I waited and waited and watched all the families around us register. After about 10 numbers were called, the director announced that the 4-year old classes were full. After about 10 more, the 3 year old classes filled. And then the M/W/F 2-year old classes. We were hoping to be included in the T/Th 2-year old classes which eventually filled, before our number was called. In fact, by the time our number was called (about 10th from the last), all the classes were full. Ace and Ben are numbers 8 and 9 on the waiting list, with little hope of getting in.

Some of the parents that didn't get spots were actually crying. It was intense. We were just as happy not to get in since I'm still not sure that I'm ready for the buddies to be away from me. But, we will tour the other program tomorrow and see what we think. I don't remember it being this hard when I applied for college 13 years ago.

Happy Birthday to Jesse and Ben

The buddies were invited to our twin -friends, Jesse and Ben's birthday party this morning. Ace still isn't well, so Ben and I packed up our gifts and headed out, leaving Ace and Daddy at home.

Ben carried our presents to the door like a big kid, and then threw them on the ground when we got to the door. Luckily, we didn't bring anything breakable.



The highlight of the party was the giant bounce house in the backyard. He bounced and bounced. Ace would have loved it and it made me a little bit sad to think of him missing out on the fun. After he bounced and played with his little friends, Ben ate a huge lunch of fruits, veggies, and potato chips, all dipped in onion dip (yes, even the fruit).



Some of my girlfriends asked what it felt like to be out with just one toddler. While I had to admit it was very easy, I would have much preferred to have my other little buddy and their dad with us.

Ace's mc-flu

After a very fun Saturday afternoon at McDonald's, Ace and his new friend Olivia have the flu. Is this the saddest little picture ever?? Yesterday was a tough day in our house. When we awoke, everything seemed normal, but as we were walking downstairs to head to the car to go to a Valentine's Day Party, Ace barfed through the railing. And it continued through the rest of the day. I pushed fluids and tried to get him to eat but every time he did, it all came back up. I lost count of how many loads of laundry I did or how many times I changed his clothes and mine. He seemed scared when he had to throw up and was most comfortable doing it while hugging me so I just held him and let him puke on me. Motherhood is a tough job sometimes. My low point was when I had to scrub vomit off my fuzzy purple slippers.

By mid-afternoon, Ace was refusing all food and liquids and was pretty lethargic. He just laid in my lap watching his favorite tv shows on Noggin. Ben busied himself with his puzzles and trucks and was no trouble all day. He even ate his supper at the kitchen table just like a big kid since I hadn't had time to clean off the high chair trays.

Since I was concerned that Ace might become dehydrated, I gave him a few teaspoons of a pediatric electrolyte drink every thirty minutes after he fell asleep last night. We did this from 6pm - midnight and I managed to get him to drink (and keep down) about 7 ounces. He's a little better today and is drinking slowly and eating small meals and keeping everything down. I'm hopeful that we've seen the worst of it and plan on spending the rest of the day hugging my little Valentines.

A Valentine's Day Playdate

Ace and Ben hosted a Valentine's Day party today for some of their little friends. It was too cold to set up the bounce house but we had a toddler "tunnel of love" for everyone in our living room. Ben spent quite a bit of time in the ball pit with an older lady (by about 2 years, I'm guessing). I'm not sure what they were talking about but he was cracking up. I was even able to get a picture of him smiling (which is rare!) during his love connection.

Ace had a good time playing with the other kids and eating heart-shaped snacks. We served fruit ka-bobs (with heart- shaped cantaloupe and watermelon), heart- shaped chicken salad sandwiches, and heart- shaped cookies. Since they might not let me make such festive food when they get older, I went a little crazy.


And, each of our guests created a glittery photo Valentine. Everyone had a great time.

Sweet Brothers

I don't have much to report today - just wanted to share these sweet pictures of the buddies playing in our backyard.

Super Bowl Sunday

The buddies declined invitations to two Super Bowl parties this year. They really can't be trusted for long periods of time in other people's houses. They get in to everything. Between the two of them, last week they broke a picture frame, a willow tree angel, and a beer bottle from our recycling bin. So, we sent Daddy to a party and celebrated with our own little Super Bowl party. They each had a bowl of salty snacks to munch on and settled down on their couch to watch the game. They made it through the first quarter (although they only sat on the couch and watched for the first minute) and then it was time for baths and bed. Maybe next year they'll be able to stay up until halftime.