Bedtime Stories

I've been trying to do a better job of keeping y’all up-to-date with all Anna Claire and Mallory’s shenanigans lately. With the girls and I having been sick most of September, I got out of the habit of updating often and rarely even picked up my camera. :’-(

Things are still busy as ever, but I’ve made a pledge to myself to do a better job posting here {which shouldn’t be too difficult since the holidays are right around the corner}. The girls are growing and changing and getting smarter and smarter by the day…there is so much I don’t want to forget, and since I haven’t touched their baby books in over a year, I’m going to spend some time here on the little things…like our current favorite bedtime stories. I am so thankful {I think I’ve said it before} that the girls love, love, love books. We have shelves and baskets of books all over our house {and even in the car}, but we have a few titles we specifically save for bedtime...

Llama, Llama Red Pajama
Quick as a Cricket
Goodnight, Gorilla
Goodnight, Moon
The Big Red Barn
Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose
Treasury of bedtime Stories {"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Henny Penny"}
The Jesus Storybook Bible {"David and Goliath"!}

The rule is two books and then lights out, but don’t think for a minute the girls don’t try to trick us into reading more than just two books. And honestly, things do get a bit tricky because sometimes they are happy to sit and listen to the same two stories if they can agree, but other times they want different stories…so is that two stories total, or two stories per girl {totaling four books}? You’d think it would be as simple as Mallory choosing one book and Anna Claire choosing another {and maybe it could be}, but if you have ever had two-year-old twins named Anna Claire and Mallory, you know nothing is really all that simple.

And the only thing that will divert their attention from wanting one more story, mommy is our other bedtime ritual of singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” Yes, the Toy Story obsession continues, though Mary Poppins has recently taken top spot {which I find practically perfect in every way!}

Woosh!

We spent a beautiful Saturday morning at the playground this past weekend. It's a very old playground, but it's my favorite.

I think this may be the same teeter-totter I played on as a child!

Much to my dismay, we decided to let the girls climb up the big slide and come down alone. Walter helped them up the ladder and I waited down below. Mallory is much more of a daredevil, but Anna Claire was not going to be outdone!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see the cutest little class book ever...Mrs. Lori made all the children their very own Brown Bear book with a picture of each of their friends. I knew they had read Brown Bear, painted a brown bear, and colored a brown bear "puppet," but I didn't know the little book was in the works. What a cute keepsake for the girls to always remember the friends they made their very first year of playschool. Thank you, Mrs. Lori!

This was also our week to send in snacks. I wanted to do something "seasonal" and had grand plans to send in snack o' lanterns Tuesday, but after carving three, I realized this wasn't really a Monday~night~kind~of~project for me, so we took in yogurt and granola bars instead. Today, however, we did send in {semi} homemade chocolate chip~pumpkin mini~muffins. I let the girls taste~test Wednesday night. I think they liked the muffins...

These couldn't have been easier to make and the healthy pumpkin totally cancels out the chocolate, right? Try 'em...

1 box of chocolate chip muffin mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of milk
1 large egg
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

Bake in a greased mini-muffin pan at 400 degrees for 10 minutes {for mini-muffins}.

Potty Please

Tonight I got the girls undressed in their room and rushed them off to the bathroom for their bath as I lagged behind gathering towels and jammies. On my way down the hall to the bathroom Mallory met me shouting that she had pooped in the potty.

And she sure did. For the first time. Ever.

I hadn't even asked her to try. She went all by herself. I'm so proud.

10.10.10

I sure wish I could say yesterday, October 10, was a "perfect 10," but in fact, the girls and I were a little out of sync with each other {I guess that happens between mothers and daughters sometimes}. So, we sent Daddy off to a friend's wedding and tried to salvage the rest of the day playing outside in the {too} warm October sunshine.

...and these .99 pumpkins helped. a lot.

Hello, October

September ended on such a soggy note that we were so excited to see October start off with blue skies, low humidity, and cool temberatures. Yay, October...

To get into the spirit of the new season, we went shopping for fall clothes and shoes for the girls Satruday morning, and today I made caramel apples. Anna Claire and Mallory love apples.

They do not, however, love caramel apples. Mallory took one bite, but Anna Claire wouldn't even look at them long enough to get in a picture. {They were quite yummy, believe me.}We played outside all afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday.

Hopefully this nice weather will stick around for a while.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night Anna Claire and Mallory went to their first high school football game {since before they were born}. I wasn't at all sure how things would go as the game didn't start until the girls' bedtime, but they had a blast! Can you tell?...
They were all decked out in their green and gold {I had to whip up those hair bows at dinner right before leaving} and clapped and cheered at all the right moments while snacking on popcorn and boiled peanuts. We had already planned to leave at halftime, and the girls' interest was certainly fading by that time. Thankfully, the girls made it home without falling asleep in the car and once in bed it was no time at all until they were sound asleep...and we all got an extra hour of sleep the next morning {though I do not plan on making a habit out of staying up past bedtime!}.