Rhyme Time

I've been working with Anna Claire and Mallory for a while on rhyming. A few weeks ago, it "clicked" with both of them and now we're rhyming all the time...real words and nonsense words...in the car, in the tub, at the dinner table.

Well, it finally happened today. I was at my parents' house to pick up the girls after work when Mallory asked, "Do bucket and @#&% it rhyme?" Now, I know for a fact she has never heard the f~word or the phrase. Ever. But, both girls have caught on to the concept that swapping out initial consonant sounds produces rhymes and they come up with rhymes like lamp and bamp, basket and hasket all the time. Knowing her slip of the tongue was completely innocent is what made it so funny. I think my mom and I let out a scream at the exact same time then started laughing uncontrollably.

Luckily, Mallory had no clue what she had said or what we were laughing about and she has not repeated herself. Whew!

In other news, the girls are still sick ~ coughing, throwing up from coughing so hard, sneezing, runny noses, Mallory's had diarrhea, and Anna Claire has been running an evening temp {101 last night and 102.5 tonight}. Thankfully, the girls are in pretty good spirits.

Here's to hoping we get a little more sleep tonight. The weekend cannot get here fast enough.

We Want Our Warm Weather Back!

The weather was cool and rainy all day Sunday, so the girls were pretty much stuck inside all day which was fine since Mallory wasn't feeling well. She didn't eat a thing until lunch and seemed to feel better after that. I'm sure the nice long nap the girls and I took after lunch helped. A nap on a rainy Sunday afternoon ~ is there anything better?

Lunch on Sunday ~ the perfect grilled cheese. For almost 38 years {OK, not quite that long} I've been trying to spread butter on the bread before grilling the sandwich which tears the bread  if you're using cold, real butter, and I can never get the butter evenly spread across the entire surface. Sunday I put the butter in the pan to melt then but the sandwich in the pan ~ perfection!

Mommy gets to eat the crust!

We also made our favorite peanut butter dip Sunday. The girls have finally decided they like peanut butter which is great because Walter and I eat a lot of peanut butter. I don't really follow a recipe, but it's basically 2 parts peanut butter to 2 parts yogurt to one part honey. Yummy with green apple slices!

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, this is what our living room floor looked like. If you can"t tell {ha, ha}, you'd be looking at Equestria, specifically Ponyville and Canterlot Castle. We watch way too much My Little Pony!

 We also eat a lot of grapes around here, so one of the girls' "jobs" has become rinsing them off.

The rain brought much cooler temps for Monday and today and now both Anna Claire and Mallory have terrible coughs. We want our warm weather back!

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Can you believe Dylan is 4 years old?! That means the count down is officially on to Anna Claire and Mallory's fourth birthday. That I cannot believe!

The girls had a great time Saturday; I'm sad I don't have any pics of the huge Cars jump castle. The rain held off and though it was cloudy most of the morning, when the sun came out things warmed up quickly!

Look at all that candy! The girls ate a lot of junk food and fast food Saturday {not my finest mommy moment}. We sure paid for it, too. Mallory threw up everywhere several times very early Sunday morning. We are a very lucky family in that stomach issues {for the girls, at least} are rare, so when it happens, especially in the middle of the night, I am totally caught off guard!

Cute girly whale applique I whipped up for the party ~

Very happy with how this turned out {minus the wrinkles}. The outfit is a tiny yellow checked seersucker from the Rosalina sale and the bow is pink striped seersucker. I had the fabric and thread already on hand from other projects ~ love that!

Don't Try This at Home

Last weekend was pretty laid back. We made a family trip to Lowe's for some shrubbery, a new gate latch, and sandbox sand. Then I made a separate run to Target for a kiddie pool and water blasters. The weather was gorgeuos, so we pretty much spent ALL day Saturday and ALL day Sunday playing in the yard.

Last summer we made our DIY water slide, so we thought we were brilliant when we put this year's pool under the girls' new slide. Not a good idea on so many levels {which mainly had to do with all the drained water pooling under the new swing set and soaking into the brand new sand which now I've discovered may or may not be life-threatening. They had a blast, though!

A Lesson on Raising Twins

by Mallory

Easter Sunday I was ready to get the girls dressed to go over to my parents when Mallory ran over to her closet  and pulled out the dress she wanted to wear...a brown, long-sleeved, polka-dotted minky dress.

Not exactly what I had in mind. I asked her to put it back because she and Anna Claire were going to wear their new lavender checked, smocked Easter dresses to which she replied oh~so~matter~of~ factly:
"Mommy, you know Anna Claire I don't always like the same things. Sometimes I want to wear something different."

Touché sweet girl. You are growing up way too fast for mommy.

{she did end up wearing the Easter dress, by the way}

Assisstant to the Easter Bunny

Last year I helped out the Easter bunny and made the girls these silly bunnies:

So, I was looking for a way to possibly start a tradition of making the girls an Easter bunny each year when I came across the idea for faux-chenille bunnies on Pinterest. So cute, but I didn't have any flannel and a trip to the fabric store wasn't in the plans. Then I had a brilliant idea {I have those sometimes}. I could use a few of the girls' flannel baby blankets. I still have stacks of them in their armoire and wouldn't their use make these little bunnies so much more sweet and sentimental? Yes, I thought it would.

This was a pretty easy project, but I was still surprised that they turned out pretty much like they were supposed to. The girls love cuddling with them, so I got a little overly excited as I was talking to Mallory today, and I told her that I had made the bunnies from some of the same blankets I used to swaddle her in.

Oops.

Anna Claire overheard me and with a shocked expression on her face, demanded, "So you're Peter Cotton Tail?!"

Whoa! Where did that come from?!

I thought very quickly on my feet and told her he had asked for my help when we saw him at the Easter egg hunt because he wanted her and Mallory to have very special bunnies in their baskets on Easter morning. I thought I was in the clear until she asked me if I had put the bunnies in their baskets myself. {She thinks of everything.} No, I told her. I left the bunnies on the table so Peter Cotton Tail could find them.

And then she went right back to pretending to be the Princess and the Pea without another word about it.

Crisis narrowly averted.

Throwing in the Towel

Terry cloth is not my friend.

I am still learning a lot about machine embroidery, so after the first beach towel, I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel ~ literally and figuratively. All in all, though, I think these beach towels turned out pretty well.

The trick? Walter-soluble stabilizer on top of the towel in addition to regular stabilizer underneath. Who knew?

Things We Talk About in the Car

Mallory {she who does not like milk}: Mommy, you know the brown chocolate milk that cows poop is disgusting.

Me: {thinking to myself we've got to get this clarified}: Cows don't poop milk.

{and in the second I hesitated trying to figure out how to introduce the term udders}

Anna Claire: Mallory, you get milk from cows by squeezing their pipes.

{Pipes? Okaaaayy...I'd say she clarified things for us just fine!}

Easter Photo Eggstravaganza, Part II

Easter Sunday was lovely.

Of course, things started off with Anna Claire and Mallory diving right into their Easter Baskets. Peter Cotton Tail was very kind to the girls this year. The biggest hit, as always, was bubbles! I also have a cute story coming soon about the Easter bunnies I made for the girls.

We spent most of the day over at Granny and Papa's having Easter lunch with the family, swinging in the hammock, and even taking a dip in the kiddie pool {sorry, no pics; by this time I was eggshausted! ha.ha.}.

Easter goodies from Granny and Papa, too!

The kids table. I think they are finally all old enough to sit alone and eat fairly independently, so the mommies and daddies can also enjoy our food {somewhat} peacefully.

Happy Easter! We hope you and you family had a wonderful holiday!

Easter Photo Eggstravaganza, Part 1

The Saturday before Easter was Aunt Pam's annual Easter egg hunt, so we made some yummy rice-krispie treats to share...

 The girls picking weeds flowers...

This year, the Easter Bunny made a special appearance. At first, Mallory was very excited to see him...

 So was Anna Claire...

Then, out of nowhere, Mallory got shy, took a U-turn, and hid under the swing set. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to come out.

She wouldn't sit with the Easter Bunny unless Granny sat with her...Don;t kn ow what that was all about!

 Owen and Oliver...

 Connor and Dylan...

 Anna Claire and Mallory...{we bribed her with a cupcake}

 Pinata time!

 Time for one more craft before the Easter Bunny comes...

Happy Easter!

What a fun~filled day we've had and it's only the day before Easter. We'll be back soon with more pics from Aunt Pam's Easter egg hunt {above} and all the fun I'm sure is in store for Anna Claire and Mallory tomorrow!

More Playing in the Sprinkler

Anna Claire and Mallory wanted to play in the sprinkler again today, so I let them go for it, particularly since tomorrow's high will be in the low sixties!

Mallory thinks she's officially in charge of the faucet. You'd be right if you think this causes some problems!


 We added a new game to our sprinkler fun ~

There'e a huge mud puddle now where the fort/slide above used to be, so the girls put on their rain boots and stomped right through it.

I can't believe there are only three days of spring break left.