Front Page News!

Abby was on the front page of the Birmingham News today! We were very excited for her, but this is another example of why raising twins can be difficult. Of course it's exciting that Abby is in the news, but it's sad for Sarah. She was there too, and the photographer also took her picture, but only Abby made the paper. She cried and cried when she found out. I talked to her and calmed her down, but she kept saying that she wanted me to call the paper. I said it wouldn't make any difference; they wouldn't run her picture just because I called. She said, "I know...I just want them to apologize." Oh, my sweet sweet Sarah.

Vroom Vroom

Today the girls got to ride in a race car! One of the prize incentives of the recent fundraiser at school was the opportunity to take laps in a race car, and after numerous weather delays, today was the day! I wasn't sure if they would be excited about it or scared, because it was very loud, but they both LOVED it. And, after all the kids took their lap, I got to take one too! Very fun! It turned out to be a very expensive and inconvenient ride for me, because I lost my car key (probably in the race car, either climbing in or out through the window). Unfortunately it was my only key, and it's got some sort of high-tech safety feature built into it. The dealership was able to make me a key to open the door and get the ignition into neutral, then we had to get a tow truck to take us to the dealership where they could program the key and the key-less entry. The whole ordeal took about 5 hours. So much for my plans today. Maybe the lesson is "don't accept rides from strangers."

Big News!

We had a great day. After church, I took the girls to a birthday party at the Sweet Stop. They made (and ate) candy necklaces and sundaes, played a game, then filled their Goody Bags with lots of yummy candy. They probably had more sugar today than they've had in their whole lives, combined. I learned that sugar affects them very differently. Sarah came home bouncing off the walls. She literally couldn't stand still, and at one point she was spinning in circles in the den. On the other hand, Abby fell asleep on the way home, didn't wake up when I got her out of the car, and slept in my arms for an hour.

And now for the big news...Abby has a tooth coming in! It's coming behind her baby teeth, and the tooth it's replacing is only a little loose, so I'm going to check with the dentist tomorrow to make sure it's OK. She is really really excited, and poor Sarah is devastated. "It's not fair!" I gave them both the talk about how one of them will always be first, and sometimes it will be Abby, while other times it will be Sarah. I think Sarah is handling it better now that she's gotten used to the idea, but it really did hurt her heart!

Saturdays are for...

Daddy-style panckes!

Got Talent?

The girls came home from school yesterday with a flyer for the school Talent Show, and of course they both want to be in it. That's awesome, I think, but...don't they need to have a talent? "Gymnastics!" - they shout enthusiastically. I try not to laugh, then I explain that they should probably know how to do a cartwheel before they try to perform a gymnastics routine for their ENTIRE SCHOOL!!!
So, we're tossing around ideas. Abby wants to do ballet. Sarah wants to dance, but not alone. Sarah also likes the idea of forming a singing group.
I'll keep you updated on our discussions, and let you know if we come up with anything. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

The Blogging Community Is on Its Knees

Abby's CPK Fieldtrip

Two kindergarten classes went to California Pizza Kitchen today for a field trip. I was skeptical, but it actually was great. They toured the restaurant, watched the prep work and the dish washing, made their own drinks and their own pizzas, and had a great time.

Disney World March 09

As usual, we had a great time at Disney World. This time we went with Perry's family, and I'll readily admit that I was worried about how we'd all get along in one condo (all 9 of us, including 3 kindergartners and 1 infant!), how my go-go-go touring plans would fly with the group, how we'd handle an infant in the parks all day, how well the kids would get along, etc. etc. Turns out that most of my fears were unfounded. While there were certainly some "family moments," most of the trip was really awesome.
The crowds were crazy at times - there doesn't seem to be a recession in Disney World! And I thought that there seemed to be fewer characters, and fewer cast members. Lines were longer (over 30 minutes in the FAST PASS LINE for Splash Mountain) and rope drops were packed, but with a few tweaks in our plans we had a fantastic week.
Here's a slide show of some of the highlights.

We did have an incident, that I've decided not to blog about. But my song choice will always remind me.

Spirit Week

Last week was Spirit Week at school. Thursday was Beach Day and Friday was Freaky Friday. The girls loved dressing up and had so much fun picking out their clothes. Friday we checked the girls out early to drive down to Tallahassee on our way to Orlando, and S&A got a real kick out of looking silly when we stopped for breaks along the way.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

We went skating today with some great friends. Abby wore a sequined dress-up costume because she wanted to look beautiful. I love Spring Break - everything just seems easier, with fewer rules. Want to wear dress-up clothes at the skating rink? Why not?? Want cookies for your snack? Sure! Thirsty for some Coke, and maybe a little more ice cream? Go right ahead! Only two more days of bliss, then it's back to reality. I think it will be shocking for them!

Middle Earth

We've been at Disney World for the past 6 days, and I'll have to post about that later. First I wanted to post about our trip to Middle Earth (Grandmother and Grandfather's farm) a couple of weeks ago. It was a last-minute trip to Citronelle to say goodbye to Lane and Robert before they moved to Maine. We had such a wonderful trip. The girls really love the farm. They love to feed the chickens, ducks, and turkey, and collect the eggs, and get the vegetables from the garden. They also went fishing and planted a tree, and of course Abby walked the labyrinth many many times. Sarah even helped Grandfather clean the toilet take out the humanure from the composting toilet.
Here's a slideshow that Lane made to document the weekend.

Dentist

The girls had dentist appointments last Friday. Abby's two bottom front teeth are loose, and she's really excited about that. Sarah and I aren't so happy. I'm pretty sure that S&A are the last of their group to lose a tooth, so they're both really anxious for it to happen, and Sarah is bummed that Abby seems to be ahead of her. I would imagine that we'll have similar issues for the next 20 years, or longer, so I "reckon" she'd better get used to it!

Need to Catch Up!

I'm so far behind in my posts!

Here's a pic I wanted to share. One morning last week (at 5:45), Sarah came downstairs and said that Abby wasn't in her room. I figured she was just hiding. I went up, and saw that her closet light was on. I knocked softly on the door, then opened it to find this:

Abby was in her closet secret hideout reading a book. She had all of her stuffed animals in there with her, too. It's just so cute and sweet. I don't know how long she'd been there, but she stayed in there until she'd finished her book.

A Fun Weekend

Friday afternoon I left for a girls' trip to Lake Wedowee with some of the neighborhood gals. I love being near the water; it's just good for my soul. I was reminded of Lake Nacimiento in CA, and the peace I feel when I'm hanging out at the lake with my friends. It was such a great get-away, despite the dreary weather. None of us cared about the rain; we just hung out and played games (Mexican train, or Speed Scrabble, anyone?) and drank a margarita..or two..or three... ...
Perry did a fabulous job keeping S&A entertained in my absence - dinner with their fun cousins, pancake breakfast with other cousins, library, McDonalds, etc. Still, when I walked into the house Saturday night, they were all excited to see me. Sarah decided we needed to make the dinner table extra-special to celebrate my return. She found a tablecloth, and some fake flowers, and a candle, and she asked for fancy plates and napkins. So sweet.
Today we woke up to snow. At 6:15 in the morning, we were all out front enjoying the snowfall. The girls made snow angels and snowmen and had a snowball fight, before most people were even out of bed! The snow continued to fall all morning, and actually accumulated about 3", which is extremely rare here in Alabama. They continued to play outside most of the morning, coming in for a few minutes to warm up and put on dry clothes, and then running back outside to play with their friends. A few hours of sun this afternoon melted all the snow, but we have lots of pictures to help us remember the fun: