A few of my favorite things....

I know the twos are, well, terrible and all but I have to say there is definitely more to it than that AND I find myself thoroughly enjoying this age quite a bit. It's a good mix of sweet and salty (one of my favorite combinations).

We had a good day today and one of the things I am enjoying about them right now is their budding imaginations. They also play independently for much longer periods of time and they say the cutest things. So this post is dedicated to all that is good about being two since this age gets a bad rap.

I actually began taking pictures because seeing them like this took me back a couple of years to THIS picture. My babies! Sniff, Sniff!

They played with these laundry baskets trains and stuffed animals their passengers for OVER an hour. In toddler time that is like 2 days.

They watched a squirrel finish off the pumpkin for a good 20 minutes. Did you notice how chubby our friend the squirrel has gotten. I will take some credit. Thank you very much. :)

They actually do crafts now as opposed to me doing them. I still help A LOT but it is more enjoyable. (Speaking of crafts my favorite preschool blog "No Time For Flashcards" has a holiday gift guide up that has some great book and toy reccomendations on it. I suggested one of the gifts on the "Reader's Favorite's" link. Go check it out. )

And then of course, there are all the funny things that they are saying. I'll be honest it is impossible to keep track of them anymore but here are a few.

1) When we give them apples they say "open it Mama/Daddy". They want us to take a bite and get the apple started.

2) When they are ready to go or want you to follow them into another room they grab you with both their little hands and assist you in standing while saying "step up, step up".

3) Recently when at story time I forgot a diaper. I have NEVER been without back up either in the car or SOMEWHERE. Needless to say I had to be creative when I changed Alex's messy diaper. He could be heard screaming from a bathroom stall "isssssss disssssgussteeeeen, no, isssss dissssgussteen". Not a proud moment.

On a funny note when I got home and told the story to Nanni she said "You should have asked another Mom at story time for a diaper. I am sure they would have had one." She was SO right. Why in the world did that not occur to me. Ugh, sometimes I scare myself.

4) While on a walk recently I pointed out that the stop sign was the shape of an octagon. Now they love to look at street signs and tell their shapes. It just amazes me that all of this sticks in their brains because they are quick to point out every octagon stop sign that we see. I love that their brains are like sponges right now and am trying to teach them lots through play and outings.

I will have to keep this post as a reference point when I have days of longing for kindergarten.

If you are feeling joyful today and would like to share that with others head over to:

Halloween 2009

We ended up going to my sister's Halloween Party and had a great time. Alex wasn't freaked out although he refused to get dressed up. Thankfully my friend Steph brought extra costumes in case the boys changed their minds because Eli decided to dress up.

So here is our Halloween in a nutshell:

Eli wore this~

Alex wore this and wasn't scared of the mask behing him, shocking!

Kayla girl looked like this~

I brought these (seen here)~

and this is the gang~

There were a few funny moments that I want to remember. First of all Alex refusing an entire bin of costumes was pretty comical. It went like this: "This one?" (hold up costume) to which Alex responds "No, I NOT!" Repeat this over and over and you get the picture. He was emphatic in his response and VERY consistent.

Eli had a few moments. First of all I was trying to follow him up to a house and wait for Alex to get out of the wagon at the same time and Eli got ahead. I heard the lady giving out candy say "oh no, honey, you CAN'T come in". Yeah, he tried to squeeze past her as she was giving out candy. Another man was eating his dinner and had a slice of pizza in one hand and a bag of candy in another. Eli went for the pizza! Pretty Funny! And last but not least he tried to trade his candy that he already had in his hand with the next person giving out candy. Hey, at least he was sharing, kind of.

Beware.....

I Cor 10:12 says "Be careful where you think ye stand, lest ye fall." The Message version says "Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence."

This was my lesson of the day, taught to be my sweet son Eli. He is really becoming quite the teacher the last couple of days. Today, I met my sister at the bookstore to play with trains, which, means just that for the boys and Alli but to Mindy and I it means we get to visit the surrounding stores, by ourselves, while the other one watches the kids play. Today began like most do we arrived and headed in the store. A kind lady held the door for us and my two little angels said "thank you" and one of them went the extra mile and added "thank you SO much". I beamed a bit and thanked the woman. She and her husband smiled and I imagined complimented my children and in turn my parenting. Birds were chirping, music playing, life is good.

We went and got coffee while they stood obediently by my side and then we headed to the trains. The workers greeted my children and they politely said "hello" making them all smile. I returned a good morning to each of them. Yep, I am feeling pretty good about their behavior lately. It has been a nice little spell. We are clipping right along. AND THEN something possessed my son and the next 45 minutes were AWFUL. I won't go into details but there were lots of "NO!" and "MINE's " thrown around. The manager began "looking for books" VERY nearby. It was loud. It was ugly! The kind patrons were studying and enjoying their lattes along with a little free birth control thrown their way b/c I am sure none of them left there today thinking "Gee, I REALLY want kids and even BETTER, how about twins". Oh well let's just say I was reminded of the above verse and I will not be overly proud anytime soon. :) "Pride cometh before a fall" and I had mine. Thank you very much!

Now on a much lighter note I have been meaning to post what I did with all of my "acorns" or as others like to call them pinecones. I made a wreath based upon the one I saw here. Please enjoy mine before you click the link because I am a novice and well she "the queen" of all things decorative. Anyways I had a good time making it and only burnt my fingers with hot glue a couple of times. Jared helped me hang it so that it looked good as I was about ready to give up on it. We worked together and I think it came out fine. Next year I plan to buy the correct form and give it another go.

If you make this I highly suggest that you start out with a form that is broken into 5 pieces. Eli helped out with this one and I found it to be an "exciting" challenge. I could have returned it to the store but it was my 2nd, wrong, wreath form that I had bought and I was o-v-e-r it!

I also did this craft with Celia and had a lot of fun. We found the idea here. We made it for her friends at school and all the cousins.

I have one more halloween craft up my sleeve if I get a chance to make it while the boys nap and I will add that picture later. I have been in such a craft mood lately which is CRAZY for me. I blame Briana because ever since our craft day I am OUT OF CONTROL. She brought it out in me.

Just for the Joy of it

I had a comment from Sharon this morning and popped over to her blog to check it out. I LOVE THIS feature that she does called "Just for the Joy of it". You simply share things that warm your heart.

Today I am thanful for another simple day of play with my kids. Sometimes it is hard to take the time out to do just that, play. I have a nice little morning routine that allows me to get things done and for that I am grateful but some days I chuck it out the window and just focus on these fleeting years that I have at home with these sweet little boys who still think I am the most beautiful, wonderful, funny woman in. the. world. You gotta love that.

Today we enjoyed each and every one of the 60 degrees that we were given and took a walk. Then we played in the leaves, ate lunch and played some games. God giving me the opportunity to be a Mom and the opportunity for Jared and I to be the center of Alex and Eli's world is what warms my heart today.

Eli didn't want to come in at all. I put Alex in the house and went back out to get him and this is what I found. I am pretty sure he was convinced that he was invisible. :)

They LOVED this game that I found on "No Time For Flashcards". You set them up like this and show them each a block (separately so it also helps with taking turns if you have multiples) and have them identify either the letter, number or picture and then if they get it right they throw it in the basket. If they miss they just get to keep trying, of course. If they didn't know the particular letter I just told them what it was and had them repeat it. This was a huge hit. (Ignore the laundry baskets. I have a date with them at nap time).

What's New?

I have a lot of little posts in my head and thought I would pour it all into one.

We went to one of Jared's students home this past weekend for a class party and it was a lot of fun. The live on a farm and the boys were thrilled to visit. It was like little boys paradise filled with cows, hay, a bonfire, swing set, tractors, did I say hay? Anyways they went on their first hay ride and were completely enamored with the tractor. It was such a blessing to watch Alex and Jared who were seated accross from me. I wish I had a picture but my camera battery died after taking two pics. Yeah, it was torture for me but it also allowed me to soak up each minute instead of being behind a lens. After the hay ride the boys wanted to go on another one. I should mention that it was in the low 40's that night and I was faaareeeezing! Eli went up to Mr. Bruck and pulled on his pant leg once were were back inside the house and said "Hey, what doing?, what doing? I want a hay ride." It was pretty cute. The next day when I asked him if he wanted to get out his farm (meaning Little People farm in his bedroom) his eyes lit up and he got SO excited. That is when I realized he thought we were going back to the farm, oops.

This was the sun setting in front of their house. I could have taken a million pics at this place.

I also had fun being around High School Sophomores. It is always fun to watch the dynamics of this group. They informed me of a whole new type of music that involves a lot of screaming. You know you are old when you are unaware of a whole new genre of music. Anyways all I remember was the name of it sounded like "Elmo" to me. Big surprise being a mom of toddlers and all. ;)

Alex, Eli and the "grills". Eli was shy at the beginning of the night and said "I don't want to see the grills (girls)". However he warmed up fast because it was the "grills" who pushed them on swings, had hay fights with them and snuck them brownies. :)

We had Grandma's going away party also. This is actually Jared's Grandma and she is moving to South Carolina. Smart lady, if you ask me. The day she arrived there it was 80 degrees. I can't even imagine that, now! It was a bit sad to watch her say good bye to many of her loved ones. The hardest part, I think was seeing her say good-bye to her best friend. They have been friends since they were 17. My sister in law, niece and I had a good, little, cry over that one. How rare, a friend of almost 70 years. The boys really love great-grandma and she will be missed although she is coming in for a visit in May. Yay!

It's been fun this week because it has been slightly warmer here. It was 62 on Monday, which, in Michigan means throw open the windows and enjoy some fresh air. The boys and I also took a nature walk and found different types of leaves. Actually I found different types of leaves and they enjoyed hearing them crunch beneath their feet like a two year old should. Who am I kidding I still love crunching the leaves beneath my feet. :)

On yet another random note: I find it amusing that despite their fear of costumes they ask almost nightly to walk down to a house on our street that has ghosts hanging from trees, skeletons, pumpkins and a life size Jason (or is it Michael Myers? whichever one wears the hockey mask) in the yard. They call him a scarecrow. They crack me up.

Tonight is the big night. We head to a harvest festival at church where there will be other kids dressed up but mainly LOTS of games, candy, fun, even horses. I am hoping all the hoopla will deter them from the masks and that we will still salvage trick or treating on Saturday, although that begs the question.....WHAT WILL THEY WEAR?

Well that is my VERY random post that kind of explains what we have been up to.

Ba-Humbug!

Halloween isn't looking too good this year. The boys are scared to death of their costumes so we decided to let Nana return them and our pumpkins were eaten by the neighborhood squirrel. It is the first year that the boys are walking and would be able to trick or treat but Alex is not having it and Eli follows suit. He figures if my brother is that scared something must be up. Oh well I still love fall and am hoping for a miracle before Saturday. In the mean time I leave you with the menace that is our neighborhood squirrel. Seriously, how cocky is this squirrel?