Abilene, Kansas

I have to get my posts caught up!  I know people will be clamboring to see pictures of the girls' Halloween costumes, but I can't go out of order! 

A few weeks ago, (I feel like I start a lot of posts that way) we went to a family reunion in Abilene, Kansas.  We got to visit with family and enjoy the charming town.  While we were there we took a ride on an old fashion carousel.

It was different than what we are all used to.  Instead of the horses going up and down, they rocked jerkily back and forth.  It had a pipe organ that blasted the music instead of a recorded song.

We spent time with Will's cousin Callie, and her daughter Hailey.  Its nice that we have cousins our age to hang out with!

We spent some time exploring the downtown antique shops.  The girls enjoyed looking at everything shiny, fancy, or girlie.

I was really sad that we didn't get to the soda fountain before they closed.

Looking forward to our next visit!


 

First Concert

The first concert I remember going to was New Kids on the Block.  I was in fourth grade.  I remember every detail of it.  Waiting in line to buy tickets.  Wearing my holey jeans with my giant NKOTB button on my shirt.  Driving home from Wichita with Emmy, Crystal, my mom, and Crystal's mom, Olivia.  I could go on with the details, but you get the picture.  It was a big deal.

A few weeks ago, we took the girls to their first concert.  The Imagination Movers.  Here's a link for you to watch.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQHjg0vhQKw    I have to admit, Will and I like the Imagination Movers just as much, if not more, than the girls.  Its music that gets us all dancing. 

I don't know if you've ever watched a video of a "kid" concert, but our experience was right out of a commercial.  There were balls thrown into the audience and toilet paper sprayed from the stage. Confetti shot out of cannons.  Taylor and I were immediately up on our feet doing all the dance moves we had practiced so often at home.  It took Emma and Will a while to follow suite.  Emma just watched from her seat with her head in her hands, a smile plastered on her face.

The end was approaching and they took the fun to a more subdued level.  They thanked the parents for bringing their children.  Thanked us for giving them the gift of our time and attention.  I looked at Taylor and she had tears rolling down her cheeks.  I didn't say anything.

In the car on the way home she said, "I was so happy when they talked about you giving us a gift that it made me cry!  That has never happened to me before."  She is definitely a child after my own heart.  I explained to her that everything makes me cry!

Please excuse the terrible phone picture - I forgot my camera.

Sick Days

Three weeks ago Taylor was home from school sick for two days.  This past week Emma was home from school sick for two days. 

Sure, they had some sick days last year during preschool, but that was different.  I only had the sick one by themselves for two and a half hours.  Now I have them for seven hours.  Seven. Long. Hours.

I can hear people with only one child now. 
"I entertain my kid all day, every day!" 
I know, having twins has spoiled me.

When you're sick, that's the perfect opportunity to watch t.v., but I have a problem with that after we hit the 3 hour mark.  I can't help but feel like its sucking the life out of them.  Wanting them to stay low-key, I encouraged things like reading or play-doh.  Taylor does a pretty good job of playing by herself, but Emma struggles with that.  She needs constant companionship.  Having a twin has spoiled her, too.

Actually, I ended up really enjoying the time I got to spend with each of them.  I discovered that Emma has been hiding a secret from us!  She is becoming quite the little reader!  I already knew that about Taylor, but Emma hasn't shown us much in the area of academics.  Emma also decided that the ideal way to take her temperature is under her tongue.  She has refused to do that up to this point.  It's like she grew a whole year in two days.

To top things off, both girls decided that they don't want to sleep with any stuffed animals or dolls anymore.  They are just growing too fast.

I now have a different view of sick days.  I'm looking forward to the next one.

These are Emma's special treats that she made during one of her sick days.  In case you were wondering, she won first prize in the queen's baking competition and she made $1,000 in her bake sale.  She will use the proceeds to buy more baking supplies.

32 Years

 With the help of wonderful friends, I celebrated my 32nd birthday on Sunday.  They decorated our campsite and even gave me a candle for my biscuits and gravy.

As part of Taylor's gift to me, she collected flowers and decorated my hair.

Last week, the girls had school store day where they could buy items for a quarter.  Will encouraged them to buy me a birthday gift.  Taylor bought be a beanie baby bear.  She couldn't wait to give it to me so she handed it directly to me after school. 

Emma bought a candy bug and said she would share it with me.  She then gave half to Taylor, and handed me a leg.  I told her she could keep it.  Don't worry though, she still gave me something.  This is her digging my "birthday" hole.

This was my special birthday chair.

I love these friends!

Camping at Pete's Puddle

Last weekend we went camping with two other families at Pete's Puddle.  We were the only tent campers among a sea of very fancy rvs.  In fact, I think we may have been the only tent campers they had seen in years.  We were definitely the talk of the puddle.

This was a great fishing spot for the kids to really "learn" how to fish.  They practiced casting, walking around with the pole and not hooking someone in the eye, and having patience. 

Will caught five and I caught one.

Later that day, Taylor caught her first fish!

On Saturday afternoon we ventured into the little town of Burrton to watch the Fall Festival parade.  This is our crew waiting for it to start.  We left before the lawn mower races began.

We went back to camp and did camp-like things.  Emma caught her first fish on Sunday morning (with some help from mom).

I will leave you with random pictures to conclude this post.  Enjoy!

Fun Times with Family

Will's brother, Blake and sister-in-law, Ruth welcomed sweet baby girl, Kennedy into the world about a month and a half ago.  I desperately wanted to go visit, but all of our weekends were full.  Every time I saw a new picture on Facebook, a twinge of guilt passed through me because we hadn't gone to visit.  They only live two and half hours away - we should have just done it. 

Anyway,  they decided to come visit us instead!  Yeah, I get the award for the worst sister-in-law award.  I mean, really.  Who asks a new mom to pack up her infant and travel?  Okay, I didn't ask, they just offered.  And I am so glad they did.  We don't have "just for fun" weekend visitors very often and we really enjoyed our time together.  Blake, Ruth, Sam, and Kennedy came last weekend and here are some highlights of our time together.

We took Blake, Ruth, and Kennedy to their first corn maze.  Sam had been to one before, but said that ours was much better.  Here are a few pictures.  Looking back through them I became super bummed.  There was a spot on the lense and its right in the middle of all the pictures.  Oh, well, what can you do?

 Immediately after entering the maze, Taylor started sneezing.  Oh yeah!  Taylor's allergic to corn pollen!  Way to go, Mom, for remembering such an important thing!  She had hives and welts on her arms that night from where the corn leaves touched her.  Next time we'll put her in long sleeves.

Yep.  That's Kennedy strapped to the front of Ruth.  Kennedy told us she liked it.

What a great big cousin.

When it was all said and done, I didn't really get any pictures of Kennedy.  I guess I'll just have to keep looking at Facebook.

Thanks, guys for coming for a visit!  We love you!

Leader of the Pride

This is a multifaceted post about lessons learned by three people - Emma, Taylor, and myself.

I will first explain that the mascot for the girls' school is a lion.  A group of lions that work and play together is called a pride.  Because they are all lions, they call themselves a pride.  Each week they have a pride assembly and each teacher chooses a "Leader of the Pride" from their class.

They get a certificate at the assembly and on Friday of that week they get to have lunch with the principal.  On Friday afternoon of the same week they also get to ring the school bell.  This is not the modern electronic school bell.  Its the old, up on the roof, have to pull a rope school bell.  Its pretty cool.

Well, Taylor was the first person to be chosen from her class.  Her teacher said she was everything a kindergarten teacher could ask for.  This mamma's heart swelled.  Her certificate said that "Taylor shows "outstanding" leadership in room 1.  Taylor can be counted on to follow directions, make smart choices, and be kind be a kind friend to others."

Seriously?  How could I not be proud?

I know its healthy to be proud of your children and I hope that every parent is proud of their child, but I felt my pride changing to sin.  It was more than gratitude that my child made good choices in school.  It was growing into an ugly monster that was feeding my ego and telling me that her success was really just because we were such great parents.  Blech.  I was becoming the Leader of the "Pride".

So, I asked for forgiveness and pushed the reset button.  I was back to just healthy admiration of my child and thankfulness of God's hand on her heart.

Taylor got her certificate and was excited even though the principal called her Tyler.  She enjoyed lunch with the principal but was glad that there was another kindergartner there.  I think she was overwhelmed by all the "big" kids that were there.  The thing she loved most though, was the ringing of the bell.  She said it was heavy and had to have help.

 

Now, on to Emma.  I made Taylor promise that she wouldn't talk to Emma about it until after I talked to her about it.  I knew there was a good chance Emma was going to be upset because she wasn't chosen to be the leader from her class.  I told Emma that only one could be chosen each week, even though there were lots of kids who deserved it.  I know that she will eventually get picked, because every student does, but I didn't tell her that.  I wanted her to just learn how to celebrate other people's success.

I encouraged her to keep doing her best, because I am really proud of how she's doing.  She's making good choices and maybe someday she'll be chosen.  She decided that she didn't want to talk about it with Taylor until she wasn't sad anymore.  I thought that was very mature of her.  She know she wouldn't say nice things.  She had a few moments during the week where she had to adjust her attitude, but in the end, she handled the situation well.

Taylor felt celebrated, but worked really hard at not being boastful or braggy.  This was a lesson for both of us.  I waited to write this post because a mom from Taylor's class might read it.  I didn't want to brag, but now her daughter has gotten it, too!  Way to go, Hannah!

Way to go, Taylor!
And, way to go, Emma!

I'm proud of both of you!