CDC Spirit Week / Kicking off August

Ella & Sydney had Spirit week at daycare.  As long as it was easy, we participated ;)  And honestly, we had fun doing it!

Silly hair day!

Kind of hard to do silly hair with not much hair, but we tried and also got crazy (kind of ;) with hair bows
Ella had TWO pony's and Sydney got THREE!

We tried out puddle jumpers at the pool!  Look at those happy, adorable faces

Tie dye day!  We wore shirts from last year's tie dye day
We often take evening walks, and the girls don't often hold hands, but Daniel snapped a picture of all of his girls strolling & holding hands

after our walk we went to Jeff & Kim's to visit their newest addition: Aster the kitty kat
FYI- two year olds saying Aster sounds an awful lot like Asshole

On tie dye day they actually tie dyed their own shirts, and here's the result! How cool is that

And rounding out Spirit Week... Pajama day! 

pure sweetness

The Going-to-Bed-Series

Our girls have this uncanny ability to gang up on you when you're alone every.single.time.

After the girls went down, Daniel went to hang out with Franco since he's in town.  Did they go straight to sleep?  Oh hell no.  They chatted, hugged, hit, and talked.  I decided to just let them be, until Sydney hit Ella in the head with her Baby, and she cried and cried and it was time for me to go intervene.

Have you ever read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"?  Similarly, this was how me going up there went:

If Mama has to go up to kiss a boo-boo, she will smell some poop.
If she smells poop, she has to take Sydney out of the crib for a diaper change.
If she has to change Sydney's diaper, Ella will stand there and also want out.
If Ella wants out, she will want to be rocked.
If Ella wants to be rocked, Sydney will also want to be rocked.

So, this mama got both of her baby bears into her lap to be rocked.  Ella snuggled her little head right in, and clearly just needed to be snuggled.  Sydney didn't care to be rocked, she just wanted to be a part of the action.  So I obliged and soaked it in, until Sydney didn't quit squirming or singing "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee".  Ella wasn't quite ready to quit rocking, but Sydney so sweetly walked over and put Ella's teddy bear into her crib and cut on Violet's lullabies, as to show her "here Ella, I got this all ready for you!".  My heart was mush.

Ella was all snuggled in, her face smooshed up on my chest

hey sweet girls! it's way past your bed time

Bitty Babies into Tiny Toddlers

The girls were born at a healthy, but still small, 6 lbz 1 oz and 5 lbs 7 oz.  Kelly birthed an almost-8 pound baby a month ago, and it was mind-blowing to think that the girls were almost 3 pounds LIGHTER than that... yet, they were still great sizes for twins.  They came home in preemie outfits, that were honestly a little snug.  The newborn clothes were way too big.  They only wore preemie clothes for about a week, and then newborn clothes for about 3 months. 

Over the 4th of July holiday, Grandma Georgia went to NY and visited the American Girl store.  She brought back Ella and Sydney their very own Bitty Babies.  As a child, I was never lucky enough to own a Bitty Baby or American Girl doll.  I remember looking through catalogs and wishing, but never had my own.  So these girls are l-u-c-k-y!

The night she brought them over, they were having fun changing their clothes.  I had an idea and went and grabbed some of their old preemie clothes - and they fit!  How crazy is that.  It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that my girls used to be this small.

Speaking of Grandma Georgia's trip to NY, she had this cool charcoal drawing of the girls done.  How neat!

And apparently I didn't' take an "after" pic... stay tuned!

July 2017

Here's a snapshot of all the fun things we did in July.  The girls are still talking ALL.THE.TIME.  They always have new phrases and observations, which is interesting, mind-blowing, and sometimes frustrating all at the same time ;)

Super dad + crazy girls

We split up the day with celebrating Baby Blakely at Uncle J's parent's house and also at a birthday party for our school-friend, Taylor.  The girls had sooo much fun in the Fields' pool with Jacob.

cousin-buddies

warming up and drying off

Sydney and Ella want Daddy to talk on the phone to Daisy

bye, mom.. I have my bucket and I'm going for a stroll

Rolling the ball back and forth

After a laid back day at home and a nap, we went out for a quick trip to Home Depot.  The main thing I have to say is - THESE SHOPPING CARTS!  The bomb.com!

so much fun "driving"

We ended a fun weekend with a snuggle session and Zootopia.

"Topia!"

I know I've said it before, but the bond these two have is weird (in a good way), fascinating, and so cool.  It's kind of like a silent, underlying bond that isn't really obvious to the naked eye.  This bond seems to make each twin better - they need each other in a "let's make sure we're in the same place" sort of way.  It's complete comfortableness.  I can't really explain it, but I love being their mom and witnessing it every day.

They started watching the movie apart, and slowwwwly moved together, and were completely in their own happy place.

Sink Family Cinemas - teddy bears and blankets are encouraged

<3 <3

Don't get me wrong - they will bite or hit or steal toys in a heartbeat.  But that's just part of it all!

kisses for our favorite guy

Then, the coolest thing happened - our friend Franco was on ESPN playing in the World Series of Poker.  How awesome is that!?  This is the same guy who dropped out of Tech when we were sophomores to start playing online poker professionally.  We all thought he was crazy, but look at him now.

post-pool walk back to the house, and Sydney helped Ella pick her nose.

Guess what obsession is back at our house??  Minions!  Glad our Halloween costumes still fit :)

E

S

love little toddler giggles! I'm fairly certain "the claw" was coming to get them

and again with those nose picking...
remember that "bond"?? ha

We had a fun-filled Sink Family weekend.  Everyone almost went to PA to be together for Daniel's Dad's birthday/year anniversary of his death, but decided to do lots of fun things here at home.  We had sooo much fun!  Friday night was a big meal at Georgia's house, complete with homemade peach ice cream.  Saturday we went to the pool, and then to Don Pepe for dinner.

cute summer girls

Syd jumping off the diving board

Ella also jumped off the diving board, but also preferred hanging out on the side next to Aunt Annabeth (and baby Blakely!)

We crashed on the way home from the pool, and after a good nap snuggled "on Momma's bed".

Sydney woke up grumpy, so Ella gave her some extra love

I love us.

On Sunday, a few of the Sink "big kids" spent the day at Water Country.  Daniel and I haven't gone in YEARS (like... 15-20!), so we knew that we needed to do this sans-little people to get the full effect.  It was pretty awesome - we had such a great time.  We loved riding rides, and at the end of the day agreed that we would have been fairly miserable with two extra little kids in tow.  Next year will be awesome with them.

So while we played at Water Country, the girls played at Nana and Papa's. 

going to get Papa's Sunday paper

teamwork

Water Country fun

we miss Matthew and had so much fun seeing him this weekend!

and at the end of such a good weekend, we had this gorgeous sunset sky

Ella and I had eye exams (all good for both of us!), and after we went to Chik Fil A for chicken nuggets and the play area.

"Yes! Empty Cones!!"
sometimes the best part of being a mom is tricking your children into believing crazy things

recently when I've gone into check on the girls before I go to bed, I've caught them sleeping in the same exact position

Sydney's first ponytail! look at that cute thing.

Each Thursday, the girls have Splash Day at school.  During splash day, they "get wet!" and "run through sprinklers", but they can't say sprinklers and it's hilarious.

This girl loves sunglasses, and also loves wearing them upside down

"Momma, buggies! Hi buggies!"

"Cheese!" -E

this girl right here, cracks me up.

"I'm working, Momma" -Ella, as she's pretend typing on her magazine
She also proceeded to do this for the next week... grab her chair, magazine, and sunglasses, and said "I'm working!"

I had a baby shower for Samantha and her new baby boy, Barrett, and enjoyed having this sweet girl on my lap.

sweet smiles from Clara

Then we celebrated Jacob's third birthday!  It was supposed to be a fun outdoor water party, but the chilly weather and rain kept everyone inside.  We picked out this adorable little summer outfit, and of course I had to snap a few pics

chatting in their own language, that only they understand <3

sweet sister kisses

 I didn't manage to snap any pictures of the birthday boy, only of these two applying make-up, ha!

again, with the glasses! and of course baby sister isn't too far away

Daniel went to help the Eckert's build their new porch, so we had a girls' day.  The weather was fantastic!  They went down awesome for a nap (which is rare), and slept for ages, so I was able to get some chores done AND enjoy the weather on the porch.

 After the quiet afternoon of sleeping babies, I decided to brave the park with the girls all by myself.  Seriously, this is huge in the world of moms with toddler twins, particularly ones who like to be in different places at the park.  They did great!  It was fairly crowded, and they listened to me, and nobody was injured :)

teeter-tottering-twin-toddlers

 Since it was so busy, the swings were almost all full..  #twinning for the win.

Ella, especially, LOVES to swing!

wee!

and finally, an extra swing!

quick snack and water break.. these girls did such a great job!

ending the weekend with an adorable lap filled with Ella Bella

Ella was serving Daddy & Sydney coffee (yes, coffee, not tea)

finishing out a fun month of July with a new Star Wars bedtime book <3
(yep, still wearing Halloween PJs 10 months later..)