The Sink Family!: Spring Fever

I have a wayyyyy overdue spring update. I don't know why I do this to myself - I realize it's been too long since I've posted so I'm overwhelmed, so then I put it off until it's even more overwhelming, and I just peruse the internet instead of updating. I'm ridiculously inefficient.

Things are awesome. Really busy and hectic, but awesome. The girls' world of talking is exploding - they repeat everything. They are such little parrots with everything that they repeat, and we really have to be careful about what we say and do. New words and phrases come out of their mouths every day, and I'm constantly in awe. One of my most favorite things they do is they say "momma" before and after almost everything they say. A few examples...

"Momma, I throw in da tubbb, momma, yeyoooo (yellow), Momma." -Sydney talking about throwing in color tabs into their bath water
"Momma, I throw back (black), momma, in da tubbb, Momma." -Ella responding to what color she is going to throw in the tub. That girl loves the color black.
"Momma, baby needs bottle, momma. Baybeeee." -Ella talking about feeding her baby a bottle
"Momma, pah-cooorrrns, momma, Moooona, momma, on da poooorrrch, momma." -Sydney telling me she wants to eat popcorn and watch Moana on the porch.

On top of repeating everything and saying my name in the sweetest little voice, they talk to each other and it's hilarious. It's so interesting to watch how they interact, and how they are learning to interact with each other. I love that they're such besties. Honestly, having twins is like a crazy science experiment every day.

Sydney was laying on her cot at daycare and it was time to wake up, so Ella walked right on over and said "Get up, Syd-ee, get up" until Sydney got herself up!
Another morning at daycare, Ella was kind of playing around during breakfast, so the entire meal, Sydney would say "Eat b-fast, Eyya." And Ella would repeat "No. Nooooooo. No. No. Noooooo." And Sydney would say "take a bite, Eyya". And repeat over and over.
Just yesterday at daycare, Sydney was ragging on Ella all day - hitting her, taking toys, etc. - and Ella didn't seem to care and thought it was funny. Outside on the playground, Ella was drinking water and Sydney threw a ball and hit Ella in the face, which made her choke. Ms. Dana picked up Sydney and told her that she wasn't being nice and she was going to tell her Daddy when he got there. Sydney got down and did it again, so Ella started to tell Sydney over and over "Not nice Syd-ee, I tell your daddy." DYING! HAHAHA!

Post birthday party fun - still playing with all the fun toys.

Thelma & Louise

all these fun activities aren't just for little ones

one of their most favorite things - pah-corns (popcorn)

I'm fairly certain that's Sydney/Darth Vader

We couldn't stop laughing at the static electricity causing E&S's hair to stand straight up! It was so funny and so cute, as soon as they slid down onto the ground, their hair immediately went flat.

these two LOVE their birthday gifts from Robin - stuffed Minnie & Daisy Duck

love Ella's sweet little Buddha belly filling up my lap

Sometimes when the girls are acting like crazy fools and we're too tired to come up with fun activities, a bath does the trick! Add in some bubbles and they're happy and contained!

sisters

pretty Sydney and her gorgeous blonde curls

Oh, Ella <3 <3 <3
And Sydney is about to dump water all over her face and choke

they love to lay in the tub after the water has emptied out and stare at themselves in the drain

Each morning after the girls get dressed in their room, we come downstairs and they sit on the "milk spot" for a "snack" (mum-mum teething biscuit) and milk.

Friday night movie theatre

love having this view on a Saturday morning - girls are having a sweet tea party

You know I like to document.... well, everything. I feel like my memory is already failing me, so I want to soak it up and remember everything through pictures. I snuck in at nap time one day to get a quick picture of our sweet ones sleeping.

Adorable outfits, you know the drill... photo shoot:

If you look close, you'll see Ella's crazy eyes wandering. The last few months, it was hard to get a picture of her with her eyes straight. They were wandering about 80-90% of the time.

pure joy :)

with our cute bunny bags at Nana & Papa's house

See my bag? -Ella

doesn't get any cuter than this

#twinsinalaundrybasket

love the simple pleasures in life :)

hanging out on the porch with Daddy - love the warmer spring weather and getting back to our favorite "room" of the house!

sometimes we just need a hug, even in the middle of pooping

I looked up and saw Sydney spread eagle really intent on reading her book, and it made me laugh out loud!

A few days before Easter we took the girls to try out the ARC park

#doublesinks on the #doubleslide

making music

Ta-Da!

Ella's happy place <3

Have I told you about our new table? I don't think so.
Spoiler alert: we got a new table! I've started to really dislike our bar-height table. It just wasn't very comfortable and conducive to our family. We decided to have a friend build us a farmhouse table (all the rage right now, and so neat looking), and have our main kitchen area suit our family of 4. If we needed extra seats, we could grab chairs from the dining room, or if we wanted to - I don't know, actually USE our dining room - then that would be a good option, too! Just didn't make sense to always be ready to entertain so many people in our kitchen nook, when that was a rarity.
One of the best parts? The girls loooove sitting at the bench and playing!

I know they're still in high chairs - one of these days they'll eat at the table like big kids. They still need to be contained, and I'm not ready for them to have freedom yet ;)

first family dinner!

Hilarious new trick - they spread their legs and make each other go under their tunnels.

"tunnel, Eyya!" -Syd

casually eating fake ice cream cones on top of Daddy on top of a bean bag.

"Wake Up, Daddeeee!" -Ella

Daddy, the human jungle gym

Is it just me or does Daniel seem to do nothing but lay around?

Let's talk about the twin babies. And I don't mean my real life twins, Ella and Sydney. There are new twins in the Sink house. Ella has decided that she wants to be a little momma, and has become attached to twin baby dolls that the girls got for Christmas. The pink baby is really her main squeeze. Baby co-sleeps with Ella each night, runs errands with Ella in the shopping cart, and plays with Ella. When she's hungry, she gets fed a bottle. When she's crying, Momma-Elle pops in a pacifier and rocks her and says "shh". It's seriously adorable.

I had two spider monkeys who were attached and wouldn't leave my side + their twin sidekicks, so this Momma had a lap filled with babies!

an odd form of teething support while Ella is on the potty

We decided to take the girls on a Friday night special adventure - a new park + pizza date. The weather was gorgeous, the girls were so happy and so fun, and we had such a great night. These simple times are what all of my adult dreams are made of, and I certainly went to bed smiling <3

look at that strong tiny girl!

fun with my little ladies

we took them for pizza and Sydney turned around and said "basketball!" - when did she learn that!?

Saturday morning twinning with Daddy!

sweet E

We enjoyed a really lazy weekend - lots of playing inside, watching movies, and wearing comfy clothes - it was really, really nice.

hanging out on the new table!

sweet girls playing

<3 <3

these two are obsessed with pockets, aren't they just the cutest

what goes better with a lazy movie weekend than freshly popped popcorn?

they're obsessed! "pah-corns!!"

popcorn, chocolate milk, and Moana

this.right.here<3

On a whim, we decided to take advantage of VT day at King's Dominion. It was a lot of work, it was very hot, and on the way home we decided we were flat out exhausted and Disney wouldn't be fun for a while, ha! But we did have a great time, and so did the girls.

on top of the Eiffel Tower

tea-cup ride

E&S did a fantastic job of waiting in line

And a fun surprise - Evelyn and her parents decided to join us!

Of course we had to visit with the Hokie Bird on VT day! Evelyn and the Hokie Bird really hit it off. Ella and Sydney? Well, exhibit A below...

Yep, they ran away crying haha. Sydney did end up giving him a high five.

The morning of King's Dominion, we told the girls we were going on a "special adventure". A few days later, we decided to walk to Brewsters for ice cream, and told the girls we were going on a special adventure. Sydney pipes up and says "Hokie Bird high five". That girl remembered that a) we went on a special adventure a few days prior and b) that she gave the Hokie Bird a high five at said special adventure. WHEN DID THEY START TO HAVE MEMORIES!? What's happening to my little babies?

so much happy

Our hope was that the girls would fall asleep in the stroller out of sheer exhaustion. Our plan B was to just go home if they melted down. We eventually gave up and went home late afternoon when they didn't sleep at the same time. Ella fell asleep and Sydney TORTURED her - kicking, hitting, and just terrorizing her. When that woke Ella up and Sydney eventually fell asleep, Ella did the same time. Twin problems, side-by-side stroller problems. Ugh.

Ella is kind of fake sleeping, and simultaneously terrorizing Sydney while she sleeps

But we really did have fun! The girls loved the rides, and we loved watching them have so much fun.

Sunday morning view from the recliner

bags packed, ready to go

christening the water table for the summer season

new bubble mowers, and hanging out with our pal Daisy

sweet, sweet, sweet

going for a walk with all the cousins after dinner at Nana & Papa's

inspecting water dripping out of the plants

want Ella and Sydney to appear? get out dessert

walked to Brewsters for a treat

Since they didn't get to give the Hokie Bird a high five on this particular special adventure, they got Hokie bibs instead!

twin mom in training

We sent the girls to Grandma's for the night and went out with Daniel's cousins for Cinco de Mayo. You know I looooove a good margarita. And we laughed all night long - mainly because of the company, partially because of the mars ;)

cousins <3

happy cinco!

"gotta look good" -Katie

just a causal Saturday night rave in the bath tub

way too early - so tv & snoozing it is!

Going to visit Daisy

picture day photo on the porch

We attempted to go and pick strawberries. In the parking lot of the Farm, we found THE BEST frozen custard. Sadly, the farm was closed for picking when we got there, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

so excited about baby cones and ice cream

haha

The kind man running the farm shop gave us some delicious strawberries to take home! We snuck a few first.

Soooo good!

Ella in the next two pictures cracks me up.

All ready for school... gotta make the long trek downstairs with our babies to go sit on the milk spot for a snack.

Ella had a pre-op appointment before her surgery. She got all checked out!

Pretty fly for a small fry

hanging out at the Eckert's for the day, and Ella is so talented - she turns a lawnmower into a double stroller for her babies. She spent much of the day also talking on a phone - such a good working mom!