Two Little Monkeys Jumpin' On a Bed.

Did you notice the hair-out-of-the-face move by Alexia? She puts up a big fight when I try to put her hair in a ponytail, and resorts to this move. She'll even hold her hair up from her face with one hand, while eating cereal with the other hand. 

Maybe these girls are ready to share a room?

Thumb sucking twins:

Vanilla Steamers.

I got the idea of serving a warm beverage to the girls from a friend with a funny story about Vanilla Steamers. She explained that in high school her go-to drink from Starbucks was a Vanilla Steamer. She would tell people she needed her vanilla steamer. And it wasn't til later that she realized there was no coffee (or caffeine) in a vanilla steamer.

I enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed the actual drink!

As an alternative to (the ever sugary) hot cocoa, I was excited to have a tea party with the girls by serving this:

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Vanilla Steamer
Serves 4.

2 c. milk (I use organic 2%)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. sugar (I use sucanat)

Stir together all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until you see steam rising from the pan (approx. 10 mins). Serve with cinnamon sprinkled on top and yummy cookies for a perfect tea party!

{sidenote: I am desperately missing my aerolatte (it broke and I also accidentally left it behind on my trip to California last month), this drink would be perfection with some foamy goodness}
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At our tea parties, I have the girls practice using cloth napkins in their laps and wiping their mouths. It's great to get some more use out my cloth napkins that I love! And, I read in a book the idea to teach your girls proper etiquette. Not that it's an everyday reality (because I rarely serve napkins at meals, special request only!), but so that the girls are familiar and comfortable with social situations that require them to be a little more proper than our normal everyday meals. I told Ryan about this desire of mine, and we both laughed and agreed that I'd better get my hands on an etiquette book to learn for myself!

Here's the inaugural day of Vanilla Steamers.

Getting some fresh, frigid air:

Infamous chokehold:

Ahhhh...and inside for some warmth and comfort drinks:

Vanilla Steamers were a hit!

Home Alone.

Ryan went away for a long weekend to support a good friend of ours in Q School.  So while he enjoyed Florida and pristine golf courses, this is what I was left with:

Yes I Love Technology.

These girls would make Kip proud:

Looks A Lot Like Christmas!

Our annual tradition of getting a tree (at our old neighborhood fire house) and having Ryan's homemade chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa was spent with friends this year. We came home with a six-foot Frasier Fir. I love it!

Here's our crew:

Here's the Peterson crew:

Cookies and hot cocoa at last:

I bought these pajamas for Alexia at a huge consignment sale (Wee Sale) a few months ago, with this particular Christmas Tree evening in mind. Ironically, I went with Anne Marie to the sale. 

Here's our tree, at last! And last year's project, the monogram wreath.

Our mantle substitute (since we don't have one here at the apartment):

I use a tradition from my Aunt Debbi, where each Christmas I add a bell onto each of our stockings. This will be our seventh Christmas as a couple, Alexia has 3 bells and Naiya two. This year I bought real pine garland, and a real pine wreath (super cheap at Home Depot!) I've always wanted to, but I'm convinced to just buy the fake garland from the Dollar Store next year to a) save money and b) not have to fuss with putting on/taking off lights every year. Word to the wise. 

Here's our Christmas-ed out dining room:

And Dollar Store decor:

Personalized things make me happy. Tip: buy a cheap tree skirt and get it embroidered.

Putting out holiday dish towels used to be something that was never on my radar, and once I did recognize this trend, it didn't make sense to me why anyone would throw in Christmas colors to clash with the rest of their kitchen decor (unless green and red was what they had goin' on). But this year, these TJ Maxx finds made me realize how walking into my kitchen each morning to these festive yet practical items could make my day! I find myself getting disappointed when I've dirtied both of them up before I have time to do laundry. 

And here's Trouble:

Hope you are enjoying this Christmas season! 

Them Girls Are Funny.

Hats are funny.

So are chokeholds.

So is snagging  your sister's cookie when she least expects it.

Some happy campers when sugar is in the mix.

BFF.

My Little Munchkin.

This little girl has got me wrapped around her finger. Got me itchin' to have me another one! 

This is about my favorite age. Still really cuddly. Still got those cheeks. 

And still...

Wants her Mama.

Faceplant 101.

I forgot to blog about it, but last month Alexia had a run-in with the pavement path we have at our apartment complex. Ugh, it was awful.

It all started off as an innocent walk outside in order to run some pre-dinner energy off. There's an exercise path that loops through our complex, complete with some super old school circuit stops. But they are a reasonable alternative for a playground.

These parallel bars (a.k.a. monkey bars) in the above photo happen to be up on a hill. And when Alexia was done swinging her little heart out, she came running down the asphalt path to where Naiya and I were standing. I took note of her gazelle strides as she gained some pretty good speed down that hill. And just when she got to the bottom, she got tripped up. Internally wincing, waiting for what I knew was about to happen, I was surprised when she landed on her knees, then her side, instead of her chin. But somehow in that nano-second of side-falling, she squared back up and did a full-on face plant. Ugh. It makes me cringe remembering it all. Not only did her face hit the asphalt, but I witnessed her poor face literally bounce off the ground. (I actually feel a little sick thinking about it.) 

But good news was: no emergency room trip. 

Bad news was:

What better way to ice her lip than with a fudgsicle? (Thank you Grandma for leaving those in our fridge!)

I'm pretty sure sugar is the cure-all, end-all:

As if my story wasn't graphic enough, I would also like to add one more tidbit. Later that day, I went to wipe Alexia's nose (she had been wailing for something or other) and off came a layer of skin with the tissue. Ugh, it was awful! But I am amazed at how quickly it healed. She was such a trooper!

Come To This?

Not an official Quirky Thursday (looks like those are few and far between). But just a thought for the day.

I just put the last little girl down for a nap. Simultaneous naps are what I live for.

God has been gracious to allow them to both sleep from noon to 2 every day. So about this time every day I walk out into the living room to pure silence, and I am torn between being focused on getting things accomplished around the house and being productive vs. making myself a cup of coffee and sinking into the couch for some good ol' fashioned stay-at-home "me" time.

So today I walked out of Alexia's room and chose to focus. On a "focus" day, I start off by making a list of my priorities for what can be done in two hours. My top three usually consist of doing one house "chore" (so as to avoid living in a perpetual tornado), prep for dinner (to avoid 5:00 meltdowns - those are the worst, most stressful parts of my day if I have procrastinated prepping), and calling/emailing people back.

So today, in all seriousness....before even getting my pen and paper with my top priority list in mind, I made the mental note of:

"I need to shower today. I have to shower today."

Really? When did my life come to this?

That "taking a shower" is something I need to tell myself to focus on, and accomplish? For reals?

Yes, for reals. It's been a couple days. My hair is noticeably greasy. And I have put "Take a shower" as one of my top priorities today.

Awesome.

A Few Things.

A few things happened this morning. Naiya eating her breakfast, Alexia and I eating a mid-morning snack of crackers and hummus, Christmas music in the background spurned me to dance in my chair.  Looking back and forth at each girl for some well-earned (at least I thought) giggles.

Their response?

No giggles.

Naiya shook her head saying, "no, no".

Alexia looks at me in all seriousness and says, "Mommy, please don't dance."

Well then.

And another comment that surprised me this morning. Alexia and I went to go get Naiya up this morning and she asks me, "Mommy, can I hold my sister?" {heart melting}

This is the first time I've heard her refer to Naiya as her sister. Such a sweet thing to see her realize their relationship. Sister, and hopefully BFF.

Oh, and by the way, the detox is over. Life is so much better with caffeine. It ended yesterday. So maybe I could find a happy medium of not having two or three espressos throughout the day. Maybe just one regular cup of coffee in the morning could satisfy.

Go ahead, laugh. All you loyal caffeine drinkers that knew I would come to my senses and be back.

Cheers.

Thanksgiving 2010

We celebrated our Thanksgiving this year with half of Ryan's family at a house on the water that our brother and sister-in-law are housesitting for. There were only five adults (Pops, Ty, Jenna, Ryan and myself) and two kids, one of our smaller holiday dinners. And since my mom-in-law is out of the country visiting Ryan's sister and her family in northern Iraq (Curdistan region), Jenna and I were in charge of the menu.

Our traditional menu included:

Fried turkey, compliments of my bro-in-law, Ty

All compliments of my sis-in-law, Jenna:
Homemade Rolls
Roasted Veggies
Sweet Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Festive Punch

Cranberry Salad, Ryan's contribution
What I busied myself doing all Thanksgiving morning:
Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes
PW's Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie *both pies I used Ina's pie crust, and the recipe makes two crusts!
Homemade Whipped Cream  (minus the rum used in the recipe)
Turkey Gravy straight from the packet!

Here's some shots of our Thanksgiving table:

It was a wonderful meal, and the boys and the little girls jumped in the hot tub as an after-turkey dinner activity. Alexia had been talking about going in the "bath tub" since the last time she was there last weekend. All Thanksgiving morning she kept talking about getting her "swimsuit-underwear" on (that's what she wore the last time) and going in the "bath tub". I'm pretty sure this picture says it all:

Isn't the waterfront view amazing in the background?

After we all had taken a little break and cleaned up, hot tubbed, and caught some of the football game, we had regained our appetite in time for dessert and coffee! Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of my first pumpkin and pecan pie. But those recipes are keepers!

Alexia even warmed up to the dog there at the house, who's name is Buckwheat. (I'm pretty sure I can't say that without giggling). Buckwheat even got close enough to lick her on the lips. Gross, but funny. Alexia just wiped her mouth and said "ach!" in disgust. And later that night Naiya puked on Ryan, I believe because she ate her weight in whipped cream.

But our Thanksgiving was enjoyed, and there are so many things we are thankful for this year.

Hope your family had a cozy Thanksgiving!