Easter 2011

***Wow! I'm so frustrated with Blogger!  I published this post a week ago, but late last week it was deleted without any evidence it ever existed.  I guess this happened across the board with many, many blogs.  Obviously, I have enough trouble keeping up with blogging as it is.  The last thing I want is to have to redo a post.  Anyway, here goes Version B of Easter 2011 ***

Easter was a big treat for us this year! We woke up on Easter morning at Mop and Pop's house in Orange County, where the girls mysteriously had twice the loot they would normally get at home :)  As soon as they donned their new Easter dresses, they were let loose in the living room. 

Tessa, ever the candy hoarder, thought she was pretty sneaky with goodies.  We even had a moment right before we left for mass when we couldn't find her anywhere.  Sure enough, she was tucked behind the living room sofa, unwrapping a Starburst. 

Meanwhile, Annie was equally happy just holding hands with Mop during the walk to mass.

After mass, we headed to brunch at Mop and Pop's country club, and I'm not sure what the bigger hit was -- sitting next to Uncle Kyle or seeing the Easter Bunny.  Megan and Bridget loved goofing off with their uncle!

What I didn't get a picture of, though, was the twins' reaction to the Easter Bunny.  They had their eyes on him during the entire meal as he floated around the room, and whenever he came within 30 feet of our table, their lower lips jutted out and the waterworks started.  And Tessa employed an interesting defense: she put her head down on the table, and didn't flinch for at least 20 minutes.  We had a lot of people wander by with comments about the "sleeping baby" at our table.  I'm sure she was never asleep, though.  This is just her well-honed defense mechanism for pretending someone unsavory is not there.  She also uses it when strangers approach her and Annie in their stroller to chat and coo at them.  She has always been sooo shy with strangers, and will turn her head to the side and bury it in the stroller, waiting for people to walk away.  Maybe she was expecting the Easter Bunny to ask which one was older, if they were twins, if they run in the family, how they were delivered, or if they were "natural."   All of these seem fair game for the average fellow shopper, cashier or passer-by, so why not the Easter Bunny? ;)

Of course, now, when Annie relates the story of seeing the Easter Bunny (because she is a chatty one!!), the details have changed a little.  Her version goes something like this: "I see Easter Bunny.  I say hi Easter Bunny. I like Easter Bunny.  Tessa no say hi.  Tessa put head down on table!"  Hmmm.  I seem to remember Annie being pretty scarred as well. I must have that wrong...

We did manage a family shot, too, complete with my 27 week belly!

Annie

Annie (left) and Tessa (right)

The girls were pretty tuckered out after brunch, but perked up right away for an impromptu Easter Egg hunt orchestrated by Uncle Kyle!

Tessa

Annie

Mother's Day 2011

We spent a wonderful Mother's Day with Matt's family at The Olympic Club today, and managed to get a shot of me with our crew.  I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get a picture with everyone looking at the camera and smiling.  On a bright note, though, the girls did a great job disguising my nearly 28 week baby bump!  It's always nice to have a pile of little girls to hide under :)

And, another failed attempt at a group shot...

Contrary to how it appears in the pictures above, the girls did have fun.   Although Matt gave up his membership to the club almost a year ago, half of his family still belongs.  We're lucky to frequent it often enough that the girls are well-acquainted with it's many kid-friendly perks.  I still remember what a treat it was to join my Aunt Adele at this club when we were kids, and I'm sure the girls will have similar fond memories. 

They had fun running around on the grass outside after brunch,

and Tessa savored her big girl glass of orange juice!

Annie didn't cooperate for the camera, but they all had fun making buttons in the "button room" for themselves and for me.

The best thing about The Olympic Club, though, in their eyes, is the immense dance floor that's usually deserted when we go for a non-holiday brunch.  They love to pretend they're at a fancy ball, and Bridget and Megan begrudgingly take turns being the prince.  Today, most of the dance floor was consumed by the brunch buffet, but they still managed to find some space to dance, with Prince Daddy to boot!

I know it's Mother's Day, but I can't resist posting these daddy-daughter dance shots.  Somehow, I missed capturing Bridget's turn, though :(  Maybe these will make it into some wedding slide shows in our future!

 Tessa

Annie

Reading in Bed

Curling up with a book in bed is one of life's many pleasures...as an adult. This is not something we've ever encouraged with the girls, though. The idea in putting them to bed is for them to go to sleep, right? So, no books in bed. End of story.

But, like most seemingly clear-cut parenting techniques, this "rule" went out the window when we had twins. Quiet and in bed currently trumps immediate sleep in Tessa and Annie's bedroom, where they each have a menagerie of small objects that have taken up residence in their cribs, including tiny figurines and stuffed animals. And, they are permitted and even encouraged to "read" in bed. Of course, down the hall, in Megan and Bridget's room, books are still not allowed. Yep, we're inconsistent like that :)

Dora books are the current naptime and bedtime favorite, and this is how I found the twins about an hour into their nap today.







Whatever works!

- posted from my handy-dandy iPhone, with Blogpress

Deja Vu! (sort of)

I think my mom (Mop) has been plotting out this photo re-creation since the news sunk in that she was having twin granddaughters, or at least when it first became clear just how similar Tessa and Annie are, in appearance and mannerisms, to Sara and me when we were little.  It's pretty freaky, really.  I think it's probably very surreal for my parents to experience this "twin-ness" all over again, especially this toddler phase!  Having identical twins is not proven to be hereditary at all, so the random splitting of an egg that produces identical twins just happened to occur in back-to-back generations for us.  I still believe there's something genetic there.  Either way, it's very special!!

So, in an attempt to commemorate this weird little branch of our family tree, Mop actually recreated the long-lost sailor dresses that Sara and I wore for the picture below, taken when we were two years old.  (All twin stuff aside, isn't she a talented seamstress??  She just whipped them up from looking at the photo!) 

Once she'd finished sewing, and Tessa and Annie had received these adorable dresses for their second birthday, the ball was then in my court to recreate the original photo.  Should be an easy task, right? Umm, no.  Anyone with more than one child can relate to the struggle to get them to both smile for a photo.  Add to that the difficulty in getting them to sit still.  When they are both the same age, and you can't exactly have one hold down the other (like a toddler holding a baby), they both go running in opposite directions before you can snap even one photo.  Never mind the difficulty of getting them to seat themselves in the exact positions you have in mind. 

Naively, I thought I could pull this off, though.  I set a date and a time to show up to Picture People with my little sailors, freshly napped, and sister-less.  I even paid for said sisters to stay longer at preschool to accomplish this crazy trip to the nearest Picture People 20 miles away.  Suffice to say, it did not go as planned.  These sailors were a smiley hit in the waiting area, where I took the opportunity to confidently show everyone the picture I was attempting to recreate.  I even had a plan for where each girl was going to sit -- Tessa behind Annie.  But once the camera came out, all smiles disappeared and shyness and squirminess set in.  I had granola bars, candy and milk in my arsenal to motivate them to say cheese, all to no avail.  Tessa was either looking down and avoiding eye contact (her defense mechanism with strangers -- finely tuned and practiced daily when strangers accost their stroller with incessant questions and conversation about twins) or crying for the entire shoot.  And, Annie kept high-tailing it out of the shot and exclaiming, "I want Mommy's camera!!" 

Considering how poorly the session had gone, I didn't have high hopes for a picture to turn out, and had entirely ditched the idea of ending up with anything remotely similar to the "inspiration" photo.  Luckily, one (and only one!) was halfway decent, and since I had a coupon for a free print, I "purchased" it.  (Obviously, Sara and I were angels.  I mean, how did we both smile like this for this photo??!!  I really would like to know.  Not that I'm likely to attempt something like this again.  But, in the event that I do, I'll tighten up their ties and cut their bangs so they don't look quite so unkempt in comparison.)

Here are all four little sailors!

Me (left) and Sara (right)

Annie (left) and Tessa (right)

School Pictures!

School pictures are in! This is highly anticipated in our house (okay, it's just me - I'm pretty sure Matt wasn't losing sleep over this), mostly because we get no proofs of the pictures before we buy a package.  I know -- it's a racket!  So, we buy the smallest package at $29, which is an expensive gamble considering the likelihood for a cute shot.  Megan had a cute shot last year, so I was hoping for a similar outcome this year for both girls.  I'm pretty happy with our cuties, and since the payments are non-refundable, I've decided it was totally worth the $29 for each girl.  (I can't not get the school pics.  I just can't.  I guess I'm sentimental like that.)

So, without further ado, here's the last school picture of Megan without a uniform on until 2020!  Since she's entering our parish's grammar school in the fall, she'll officially be a little Catholic schoolgirl next year. I think we might get tired of Megan's school pictures in the same navy sweater every year.  For now, she loves picking out her own clothes every day, and especially loves wearing pink! 

And, little Miss Bridget.  This picture pretty accurately portrays the "School Bridget."  She's as goofy and outgoing as can be at home, and is a ham for my camera, but is still a shy observer at school.  I'm not surprised that she looks so shy for this picture.  Still a framer, though :)

Happy Birthday to Three!

With three little girls' birthdays in March, we're lucky they all seem agreeable to combining their celebrations.  Tessa and Annie don't have much of a choice, but someting tells me they'll survive sharing their birthday with each other.  I know someone who's a twin and she said it's not too terrible ;)  As for Megan, she's just pretty agreeable by nature, and was more than happy to share her day!

Even Bridget, the odd girl out, was all smiles :)

This picture sums up Tessa's obsession with everything Dora and Diego.  At two, one of her most common expressions is, "Oh, man!" complete with a dejected face and tone of voice.  She's pretty picked on, obviously. 

Annie was all smiles with "Clar-Clar."

And they both got the party started with some synchronized "upside downs" they'd been rehearsing for weeks.

We sang three different renditions of "Happy Birthday" so they each had their turn.  And, of course, Bridget was on stand-by should anyone need some help blowing out their candles.  Although we didn't have a kids party this year (and have assured Megan that those start in kindergarten in our family, despite her many detailed plans for her party this year), we had a lot of couisns there to celebrate. 

Come July, Bridget will have her own party.  But, she'll soon be sharing her month with Five, who will conveniently even out our family calendar!

Cuties

Now Hiring: Activity Director

With nearly five kids, I knew my quiet, organized days were numbered.  Soon enough we'd be trekking across town from one activity to another, figuring out which parent would be where for each child, our schedule brimming with everyone's individual activities.  Well, it's not exactly Grand Central around here (yet!), but we did just dip our toes in this new world of kid chaos.  After a lot of talk about what activity to get the girls started in, we finally signed both Megan and Bridget up for soccer!  This is the very first real activity (read: not free!) for either girl, so this was a milestone -- and one that they were very excited for!!  Best of all, their teams practice at the exact same time on the same field.  How's that for convenient?!

Something tells me we won't have any trouble spotting Megan running up and down the field!

. 

I wasn't expecting her to be the only girl on her team!!

And no, she's not a diaper-wearing five-year-old.  Those are scrunched up shorts under her pants, hastily covered up by some pants from my diaper bag when we realized how chilly it was.

Suddenly, we have new words in our vocabulary like "trapping" and "dribbling."  Megan caught on pretty quickly with all of the drills.  I think every boy on her team has played before, hence some serious shin guards and cleats!  I think she'll hold her own, and so far, is non-plussed with being the only one in pink!

Meanwhile, a few yards away, Bridget got acquainted with the soccer ball, too.  Her team is all 3 and 4 year old kids, and there are a few more girls.  They also don't play any games, which is the perfect speed for this little daisy-picker.  She spent a lot of time waving to Mommy and Daddy, and keeping her hands in her jacket pockets while she kicked the ball back and forth with her little partner. 

I'm so excited to expose the girls to a sport, and to see how they like it! 

And, Tessa and Annie were taking notes, too.  Although, Tessa took full advantage of Daddy's empty arms to get some snuggles.

There are crazier (and more expensive!) times to come when these two get in on the action!

Project Plump Up

I think I've mentioned (whined about) my inability to tackle much around here day to day besides the bare essentials.  The laundry is done, the dishes are done, and, oh yeah, the kids are taken care of.  Vaccuming and putting away laundry are major feats.  But, I never seem to have time to do little projects around the house.   And, tasks like organizing photos (or blogging!) fall to the wayside.  My normal break during the girls' naptime is usually 2 hours, but I'm lucky if I can sit down to pay bills/organize my thoughts/read my email after I get done picking up the tornado that has passed through our house in the first part of the day. 

So, I am more proud than I should be for a little project I did during naptime a few days ago!  Our living room couch (okay, our only couch if you want to be technical about it!) was beginning to show it's age, and

was looking pretty saggy and deflated, especially in some girls' favorite cartoon viewing spots!  It's been bugging me for a little while.

Here are some "before" shots:

So, while Megan was at school one day last week, I took the other three girls to our fabric store and snagged two big bags of polyester fill.  Besides my decision to go stroller-less in that store with those three monkeys, the first part of my mission was accomplished!

My next mistake was leaving four girls and two bags of "fur" unattended for two minutes while making lunch later that afternoon.  "Fur" was everywhere, and that briefly put a dent in my enthusiasm for this project!

But, as you can see, I did stuff the pillows by the time naptime was over (always too soon!).  Bridget was the first up, and when she sat in "her" spot, she leaned back, frowned, and declared it "too furry."  I consider that a compliment!