Zoo Fun

We've been taking adavntage of our zoo membership lately, but now the girls come armed with something only their Daddy would dedicate hours to making for them:  a custom animal checklist to keep track of what they see and document what each animal is doing.  If this sounds like something only a big (nerdy) kid would come up with, then you're right on the money!  But, I have to give that nerdy husband of mine some credit on this one.   He scored some major points from the girls (as if his point column wasn't already brimming!).  They literally ran with this idea (okay, they strolled!) and loved circling their animals, and filling in the sheet.  Clever Matt even left quite a few blank boxes for the girls to scetch the random animals he didn't think of (hornbill, anyone??). 

This idea is right up there with our token system at bedtime, also Matt's brainstorm, which is absolutely genius!  I'll bore you with that sometime.  Let's just say we gained a minimum of an hour of kid-free time in the evening with this system.  Needless to say, sometimes dads really do have the best ideas with a totally different perspective.

Bridget shows off her Daddy's handiwork last weekend:

Pretty soon the babies will each sport their own clipboards, too. (Yep, you read that right.  This little activity even includes clipboards!)

After exploring the zoo for much longer than the girls are usually up for, thanks to the checklist, we made it to the playground to let our animals loose.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, Annie.  This judgy look after your sister tried to eat that dirty playground platform will have to do. 

Look for Matt's checklist at a zoo giftshop near you :)

Tessa and Annie - 20 months

I realize I'm on the verge of "by the month" overkill with the twins.  I think I can get away with a few more, though.  Maybe until they're two, and at that point, they're old. Too old for these milestone updates.  After all, by 20 months, Bridget and Megan were each child laborers mommy's helpers.  If I had blogged back then, I would have bragged about Megan throwing away Bridget's dirty diapers at 16 months.  Meanwhile, Bridget was babysitting two kids at 20 months.  Tessa and Annie have had it soo easy.  I can hear the future therapy conversations already.

But, back to our babies, who have nothing more to worry about than which doll to carry around, or which car seat they want to sit in.  No younger sibling vying for attention or needing a burpcloth.  Such is life when you're the youngest.  At 20 months, the biggest change in our house has been the lack of baby gates on the stairs!!  We still use them occasionally, but only for the purpose of corraling kids, not protecting them.  The babies each have their own method for taking the stairs.  Annie prefers to walk down while holding on to the railing, and Tessa slinks down on her tummy --- perfectly fitting of their personalities!

Other skills they're perfecting at 20 months include:

Hugging and kissing each other

Coloring, at the library and at home

Gymnastics

(on the "hanging things" at the library - Bridget's words, not mine)

Sharing a doll cradle :)

Analyzing every Dora episode ever filmed.  She is real, isn't she? ;)

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Hangin' with the big girls for movie nights

Playing a game called How Many Objects Can I Fit In My Arms?

Halloween 2010 - Superhero Style

When the big day finally arrived, our little superheros were very ready to go trick-or-treating!!  We were lucky to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Stecher and Aunt Stacy while the girls were getting into costume after naptime. 

 

And, how lucky are we to live next door to a photographer?  He came over and quickly got a few shots of the girls all dressed up.  His pictures make ours look very amateur!

After that mini photo shoot, we headed across the bridge to meet up with Mop and the Cecchin Superheros.  We really didn't plan on dressing all of the kids alike.  It just kind of happened, but the kids loved it!! 

 

Mop was well taken care of that night with her posse of superheros protecting her!

 We went to a handful of houses until these little superhero legs were tuckered out.  All of the big kids are getting the hang of Halloween now, and Annie and Tessa are still learning the ropes. Annie was much more adventurous than Tessa.  She walked quite a bit, holding Mop's hand, of course!  Meanwhile, Tessa was snuggled into my shoulder for most of the walk, barely peeking out to see the commotion at each house.

One last cute shot of Wonder Woman and Super Man!

Preschool Parade, Take Two

Our second preschool Halloween parade went a little differently than the first.  This was Megan's day, and Mop was on hand to watch the little girls while I went to see our big girl march.  Megan dressed as Belle this time ("Mommy, my class already saw me dress like Wonder Woman!!") thanks to our dress-up drawer that was at the ready with plenty of princess options.

So, she was dressed as a princess and got Mommy all to herself, but the best part of her day was the special guest I brought along to see her parade:

Cousin Joey!

These two have been best buddies since birth:

But, Joey's recent move to Moraga has put a serious dent in the time they spend with one another. It had only been a few weeks since they'd last seen each other, but you might think it was years by the way they reunited for Megan's parade!

And the car ride home was pure silliness with these two telling knock-knock jokes to each other.

Oh, yeah, and the parade shot! 



Preschool Parade, Take One

Who says you only get to dress up on Halloween?  It's a week-long celebration here, with two days of preschool parades as a nice warm-up to the big day itself.  Our dynamic duo of superheroines granted me a few pictures before we left for the first parade.

This was Bridget's parade day, so we arrived at her classroom a litle early to be there for a special Halloween snacktime.  Once there, I put the Super Twins to work right away.  Here they are scoping out the room for any potential disasters, just waiting to step in and save the day. 

Bridget's class had their faces painted before the parade started. Here she is showing off her flower, and sporting a new expression that she thinks is really cute.  It's been making it on camera a lot lately. 

A slightly overwhelmed Super Girl during the parade:

Halfway through, Megan's class joined in, with Megan, the VIP of the week (a very special honor that she'll tell you all about if asked!), at the front of the line.  Her class of Starlite Room kids are the upperclassmen at Happy Times, and they really did sail in with some big kid airs. 

After the parade cleared out, and all possible dangers were thoroughly investigated, the Super Twins took a break for a picture with Mommy, AKA Super Mom. I couldn't resist ;)