Sunday, November 30, 2008

Post Turkey-Day blues

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. I like my job, but not as much as vacationing with family! I took an entire week off from work (my first vacation since MATERNITY LEAVE two years ago!! And that wasn't exactly vacation...) so we could visit family in Bellingham for a decent length of time. And visit we did!

We stayed at my mama's house, and the kids greeted her with "GRAMMY!" for the first time! They finally started saying it on the way to her house. Of course, she was thrilled. Her hubby, Rick, is Pop. The kids also started saying Temi (for Aunt Temi), GG (what everyone calls my grandma), and a bunch of other folks' names! We got to see Auntie WeeWee (my Aunt Wendi) and Uncle Dewain, who both flew in from across the country, and almost all the rest of my family (sorry everyone - too many to list!). My sister (Aunt Temi) and her hubby (Uncle Matt) also traveled up from Portland for the week, so we got to spend a LOT of time with them - very fun!

We spent one rowdy evening with our friends Suman and Jason, Rachael and Justin with their son Sam, and Suman's sister Nav. Much pizza-consuming, hugging, squealing, baby-chasing, and "awwww"ing ensued. It was a blast. :)

The entire week and weekend were absolutely fun (minus the terrible sleeping by the twins). They were sooooo happy to get back home today with the animals and their own cribs. They fell asleep tonight with almost zero fuss. Awesome. :)

For pics of the epic weekend:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/Year%202/2008-11-30/?start=all

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Autumn!

A few new phrases:

"Ruv yoo" (love you)

"Booogeee push" or "Whoa-man push" (indicating their sibling pushed them)

"Aleth off!" or "Aleth down!" (telling the dog to get off or down)

"Bat-dat!" (Batman)

"TV on?" (greeeaaaaat)

"Daw lurckle" (draw circle)

"Dimme!" (Gimme - yeah, that's a fun one)

"I theee youuuu!" (I see you - whenever they find something they are looking for. Often accompanied by a triumphant arm-waving jump)


And new pics at the park and the children's museum!
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/Year%202/2008-11-16/?start=all

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Poop and pockets

Hi all! No new pics to post today, but I'll give an update anyway. :)

After about a month of completely losing interest in potty training, Giovanna POOPED ON THE POTTY last night!! She had come out of her room grabbing her bum going "POOPIE POOPIE!" Kyle said, "Ok, lets go potty!" and took her into the bathroom. A few minutes later (and a few "it's ok - I poop on the big potty, and you poop on the little potty!"s later), she pooped! A small one, but a poop nonetheless. Before yesterday, the kids had each peed on the potty 3 times, but that was all over a month ago. Today, she seems to have lost interest again, but at least it's a step in the right direction, right? :)

We've also really REALLY gotten into drawing lately. Kyle bought a roll of butcher paper and some ultra-sturdy crayons, and they go to town. We have several collaborative works up on the wall in their room right now. :) Sooooo fun. The funny thing is that Giovanna draws mostly circles and spirals, and Roman draws mostly lines and zig-zags, and he is more likely to stab the paper to make lots of dots. Just another way these twins are so different. I'm sure their doodling styles have some kind of psychoanalytical meaning, but I'd rather just enjoy their processes without the analysis. :)

New words in the last couple weeks: Water ("vah-luh"), circle ("lurkle"), crayon ("kay-oh"), pocket ("pocky"), bucket ("bucky"), blanket ("bankie"), tunnel ("tuh-nah"), excuse me ("new-me"), and, as of today, monkey ("muh-kee"). They also repeat the colors of the crayons, and can pick them out correctly most of the time. Most colors are apparently yellow ("leh-low"), lol. They're really using the simple sentences clearly now: "I eat peas" and "I draw circles" are a couple examples. This stage is so freakin' awesome.

Otherwise all is well. Kyle's back to being a stay at home dad after the restaurant he was working at briefly didn't work out (for several reasons). It had already taught him a lot about curing and preserving meats and veggies, so we've had a lot of experimenting going on at home! Delicious! Giovanna especially liked the pickled peppers (papa packed a peck of pickled peppers) - she wolfed them down, causing her cheeks to redden and her eyes to water, then asked for more. Little nut. Roman was not so thrilled, but got a kick out of Giovanna's reaction. :)

My new job (the promotion) is awesome - it's sooooo busy it makes the workday FLY by so I can get home to the kiddos. :) We have two big events coming up in the next couple weeks, which are taking up a portion of my sanity, but come Thanksgiving week... I'M TAKING A VACATION!!!! A whole week off. It's the first time I've had more than 2 days off (except for weekends and holidays) since MATERNITY LEAVE almost 2 years ago. I'm sooooo excited. I know it will just zoom by, but I'm really looking forward to visiting family and friends without feeling rushed to see everyone within 2 days. YAY!

That's all for now. I hope to have new pics posted in the next week or so. :)

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween and fingerpainting

~FINGERPAINTING~

Kyle bought some gel fingerpaints, laid out a plastic dropcloth and some paper, and let the kids go to town. I came home from work just as they were finishing up...



~HALLOWEEN~

Kyle suprised me by finishing the Luke/Leia costumes yesterday!!! We hadn't gotten them done and had decided to do the Poatoheads costumes again. But, the Luke/Leia ones turned out soooooo awesome! It was rainy here, so we went to a mall that was doing Trick or Treating. The kids walked the whole circuit (of the first floor, at least) and we got soooooo much attention.


Kyle and I didn't dress up since we didn't get our costumes done, but the kids had fun trying on the Darth Vader mask:



For all pictures, click here: http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/Brieshon/Year%202/2008-11-01/