Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

wordless(ish?!?) wednesday

cate left, lucy right.

and in case you are wondering what they are doing...click here to see them in action.

ayiyiyiyiyi.

xxo

s

wordless(ish?!?) wednesday

at almost 2 1/2 years old..

They are clearly super boring. No personality, no facial expressions whatsoever.

They never make me laugh.

Okay, who am I kidding. I might be biased...but they are the cutest things on God's green earth.

True story.

In my house...things like this really happen on a regular basis. Randomly.

And this is why i never. Never ever ever ever x100 want people to say "they feel sorry for me".

It's AWESOME to have them in my life.

Exhausting...but thoroughly awesome.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

xoxo

S

She She and Cake

I have a layout to share today and a a story to go along with it!

First...I did this layout for the MME blog, it's a lift of Tamara Tripodi's awesome page you can see here.

Thanks so much for inspiring me, Tamara!

Here's the layout:

Some details:

The supplies:

Supplies:My Mind's Eye My Girl: Flutterby patterned paper,Fancy Free patterned paper,Genuine patterned paper,Playful patterned paper,washi tape,felt stickers, layered stickers,enamel dots,decorative buttons,chipboard accents;My Mind's Eye Collectable-Unforgettable:'You Are' tiny word stickers,'First' decorative stickers;Collectable-Memorable:enamel dots;Collectable-Notable:'Love This' tiny word stickers;Misc:doilies,Simple Stories letter stickers,Dear Lizzy Thickers,American Crafts precision pen,adhesives

 

The story:

For the story on the design elements, etc...you can see the details on the MME blog.

I wanted to tell the story behind the page. Cate and Lucy are SO funny right now.

They laugh at each other, hug and kiss each other, and beat the you know what out of each other. I wish I was kidding on that last one, but I'm not. I'm talking "2 stooges" here. Face slapping, hair pulling, eye poking. Good times.

Moving on.

They call each other "She She"- Lucy and "Cake"-Cate. And I love it SO MUCH I can hardly stand it.

I don't ever want to forget it.

Funny story. Jimmy told me that the other night they were both in their high chairs (quite some distance apart) and Cate started biting her hand...

Sidenote: They are in that "I am two" phase where if you tell them "No" they get so frustrated that they are beside themselves and don't know what to do. They get so frenzied that sometimes they go "ARRRRR" and bite their own hands. HAHAHAH!

I know how that feels...don't you? I might try it, hehehe.

Back to the story.

So "Cake" starts biting her own hand and "She She" starts screaming "Cake NO, no bite!" "OUCH!" and holding her own hand and crying. Bahahaha. Twin empathy?

They are nuts, y'all. NUTS.

Okay, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the long rambly story and the layout. :)

xoxo

S

documenting lucy and cate

it's been a while since i've shared photos of the babies/twinners (bahaha) and talked about what they are up to.

these photos are from a while back at the corn maze. i never shared them and i wanted to today.

so...i know everyone thinks they have the cutest baby in the world. but honest to blog I DO. i have the cutest babies in the entire universe. and that is a fact.

i mean...just look at them!

they are HILARIOUS. and wild. they are into everything. they climb and throw and destroy. they are baby godzillas.

they can destroy our home in 10 seconds flat. and they do so on a daily (hourly?) basis.

they love snacks.

and bath time.

and elmo. they love each other so much.

unless they are beating each other up. yes. they are like the 2 stooges. face slapping,tackling,hair pulling, licking. it is out of control.

they have insane amounts of hair. crazy hair.

i tie it in tiny topknots every morning. cate somehow has a ratted birds nest in the back of her hair in the same spot every single day.

their favorite words are NO and CWY(color). they like to point and yell no at us in surround sound. it's pretty awesome. not.

they are picky and stubborn. they don't talk much so i usually can't figure out what they are mad about. but they get MAD.

they say "sheshe" and "cake" for lucy and cate.

they freak out if we separate them. i once tried to take ONE baby to the grocery store and an epic meltdown ensued. i took both. if cate wakes up from nap first, i take her downstairs and she spends the entire time walking around with a furrowed brow,tilted head,and puzzled facial expression saying "sheshe? sheshe?".

they think that they can do everything themselves. and they do not like you telling them otherwise.

they like to clean up clean up (deedup deedup) with a baby wipe. they will go full "cinderelley" and wipe the floor all day. they also like to throw random things in the trash. which is helpful. :)

they love music and dancing.

and their big sisters.

they like to kiss you on the lips while holding your face in their little hands.

they can throw themselves to the floor, limbs flailing,angrily screaming,limp noodling...like nothing i've ever seen before.

and in one week from tomorrow they will be two.

how did that happen? y'all i can't even tell you how much i love them. they are so precious. our lives have been so changed by them. they are exhausting and beautiful.

i love you cate and lucy.

xoxo

baby love.

please pardon theblog mess. it's a work in progress and i'm not in a hurry. :) hoping to get it to where i want it soon,but for now i'm just having fun!

oh i am so in love with them. they always smell like graham crackers and baby shampoo.

their skin is so soft and they are so snuggly.and drooly.and jibber-jabbery. i just can't get enough of them.

sigh. how did i get so lucky?
happy weekend, friends!

xoxo

joy and satisfaction

it's a joy to be able to witness 2 almost 18 months old feel the sand under their toes for the first time.

it's a treat to watch the sand move under their legs as the tide comes in and to see the complete and utter confusion on their little faces.

there is nothing...and i mean NOTHING cuter than chubby baby legs and swimsuits.

watching a baby accidentally eat sand for the very first time is hilarious.

cate found it hilarious too.

this one kind of grosses me out b/c it looks strangely real. but that is a beach toy:

and i have to tell you...there is major satisfaction to be found in the simple act of taking your four children to the beach without your husband's help.

it was a major i CAN do it moment! yes...the bigs were there, but i didn't get any photos because they were frolicking in the ocean and i couldn't leave the babies for a second. :)

hope your monday is beautiful,blessed,and productive.

xoxo

17 months? Really???

How in the world are they almost a year and a half old?

Y'all...I know I am biased but they are so so precious. They giggle and kiss and dance all day long. I am just absolutely in love with them. Their favorite thing to do right now is kiss.

They start about a foot away from me and say "nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnUH!" and on the UH they give me a big smackeroo on the mouth. They smooch and hug each other all day long.

Also they pull hair and slap each other all day long. That's not so nice. We are working on "BEING SOFT".

They make a mess everywhere. Anything they can reach they WILL pick up and move. I just found a box of quinoa in the bathtub.

The other day i found one of my flats in my shower. They hide in one of the kitchen cabinets and think it is hilarous.

Baby proofing? Has taken on a WHOLE new meaning with these two.

They also love bath time. The splashing and giggling is out of control during baths. I swear I'm going to have to start wearing a raincoat. HA!

At 17 months

Cate:

Is hilarious. She is tiny (but she has quite the belly) and her hair is curly. She is the quieter of the two,but she loves to interact. If anyone smiles in her direction, she is SO engaged.

She loves making exaggerated facial expressions. Her favorite is her "OH!" face (see above). She makes it any time she is excited, or any time she does something wrong. It makes me laugh every single time.

She doesn't take a binkie but she does this thing we call "monkey mouth". She sucks on her tongue when she's tired or doesn't feel well.

She loves bananas,crackers,and sweet potatoes. She runs really fast with one arm swinging and she dances by not moving her body,but holding her arms up in the air and making her "oh" face.

Lucy:

Is about 3 lbs bigger than Cate. She loves to eat and moans the whole time she does (AHAHA). She loves blueberries,cheese,strawberries,crackers and whatever I am eating. She is such a beggar!

She gets DOWN when she dances. Literally. Girlfriend bounces so deep her diaper hits the floor.

She says "UH OH" in the most perfect way when she makes a mess or does something naughty.

If i don't put her hair in a top pony she can't see a thing through her mop top and will run into walls.

She talks a LOT. She is the verbal one. Her favorite words right now are: UH OH, Sadie, cracker,cheese,cookie,ni night,mama,dada,harper,car,bye bye bath

She still loves her binkie.

The other thing that they are way into right now is saying "cheeeeeeese!". Here's a video of them right now.Y'all I love them so much I can't take it. Twins are just so much fun.

Happy Tuesday friends. Hope it's beautiful and blessed.

 

cheese from stephanie howell on Vimeo.

are they twins????

you hear a lot...a LOT of things when you have twins.

a lot of really kind and encouraging things...and a lot of WEIRD and not so kind things.

actually, i don't know if it's the twin thing

or the "four girls five and under" thing...but i hear MANY things when we are out and about.

but by far my favorite (and the most baffling i think) is

"are they twins???"

sometimes this is totally understandable as it's coming from people that i can tell are pretty sure they ARE twins, but don't want to assume. i remember feeling this way before i had kids, as i knew NOTHING about babies and their ages and would just ask "how old are they?".

totally understandable.

but what really makes me giggle is when i hear "are they twins?"

from someone who has children. and it's even funnier when they look SO SURPRISED when i smile and say yes.

at the store from a nice lady in the dairy section. "how old are they?"

me: "they turned one on thanksgiving!"

her: "WHAT??? both turned one? are they TWINS???"

me: "uhhhhh yes?"

i know that lucy is the chunk of the pair and i know that they don't look identical (though some people who don't see them everyday think they do).

but they are about the same size, and look SO MUCH alike.

what else could they be?

sometimes i want to say something like

"oh no, this one is 3 months older!! she came out a little bit earlier and her sister hung out in the womb"

or

"this one is 13 months and this one is 14 months, no they aren't twins!!!"

 

but i don't. i smile and answer their questions b/c i love getting stopped. but it's SO funny to me.

 

are they twins?

 

kind of like when i heard "do they all have the same daddy?" and i pointed at cate and said "all except that one!!!" .

or when the guy at urgent care(incredulously) said "are they ALL yours???" and i shrugged and looked confused and said "uhhhh i'm not sure?".

or the lady that said "you know what causes that right?"
and i said "YES! I DO! AND IT'S MY FAVORITE!!!" hahaha!

 

you've got to laugh. or i swear you will cry.

there's no other option! i love being on the go with my girls. we go everywhere, all five of us. target, the mall, the grocery store, you name it we go.

even when i hear "do you run a daycare?"...

and even when we are walking through the grocery store and i hear "your hands are full" for the 12th time (true story). i just grin and say thank you. arent' they GREAT?

or (also a true story) i hold a baby out and say "want one? i have an extra!".HA!

are they twins?

why yes. yes they are.

xoxo

 

double trouble

double the "peekaboo" head stands

double the grabbing:

 double the sipping:

double the pulling up on EVERYTHING:

if you want to know what i do all day...really only one word describes it.

chase.

i chase, i pick things out of little mouths, i pry things out of little fists. i run,i pull babies off of stairs and out from under tables.

and you know what? those little stinkers go in opposite directions every single time!!!

they sure are giving me a run for my money. and they aren't even walking yet!!  but we are dangerously close. :) teetering on the brink of DISASTER!

and my hair? is a lot more gray than it was a year ago.

but i am also 2x happier and 2x more blessed.

happy monday y'all!

xoxo

let me break it down for you.

here's the anatomy of a twin photo shoot.

hmm. i think i'll sit them over here in the grass and quickly snap a photo before one of them moves or eats something.

wait a second...why is lucy looking at me like that?

hmm. okay. i think i'll move them over in the doorway. there's better light there and they like to sit there when i open the door.

what the heck are they looking at? what could possibly be down there?

HELLO??? MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB!! MAMAMAMAMAMAMA! lalalaallala (all of this while dancing)

 

first lucy looks at me for a second:

 

then cate looks at me for a second (whilst doing some sort of acrobatic maneuver):

 

now neither one of them have interest in me whatsoever (squeaking sophie the giraffe over my head)

 

oh, for the love. now they are climbing each other.

 

okay. let's try the yard again.

 

LUCY WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN??? ARE YOU A MINI SADIE IN THE MAKING?

 

and i'm done.

:)

xoxo

s