Hanging out at Nana and Papa's

This week we are hanging out in Canada at Nana and Papa's house. We haven't been here since christmas and we needed to come and see my niece Taya since we didn't make it here for her birthday in February. Here are a few pics from our visit so far.

Reid is having fun checking out the dress up clothes at Nana's. When I was taking the picture I had him saying "Reid's crazy!!!!!".Ah, yes he is crazy and really cute too. Here are Prince Reid and Princess Elsie.

Riding trikes at Nana's. Reid doesn't really pedal yet, he just scoots along with his feet. I think he can't go fast enough if he uses the pedals.Elsie has the pedalling thing down pat. They were actually taking turns and giving each other rides.

Reid pushing himself along.

Elsie taking a break from pedaling.

Have I said yet how happy I am that the snow has all melted and it is getting warmer so we can go outside??? Well I'm saying it now!!!!!!!

Princess Tea Party

We were invited by a couple of moms in my local multiples group to take Elsie to a Princess tea party. I figured I would try it. Elsie's not really into the princess stuff yet, but why not.

Well it was really fun. It is put on by a local Girl Scouts troop. We had lemonade tea and lunch and played games and danced with the princesses. Here are all of the girls dressed up as the princesses. For those of you who don't know who they are, I will name them.

Alice in Wonderland on the stage, L-R Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine and Tinkerbell.

We were seated at the Alice in Wonderland table. Elsie really wasn't too sure of the whole situation when we arrived and just sat in her chair and observed the 1st half of the party.
It didn't take too long though and she put her little crown and on and went to play a game. Here she is passing the bunny to Alice. We don't even have any princess dress up dresses yet. We'll have to start a hunt for a couple cheap ones. Maybe at a garage sale this spring.

Of course I had to try and get a mommy and Elsie picture. These were the best of the bunch we took.

Reid and daddy spent the day together. They went to the barbers and out to lunch.

The other day I caught them in the chair together reading a book. See, they really do like each other. I wonder sometimes these days. There is a lot of screaming and whining and crying going on. I say "its really hard being 2 isn't it" a lot.

Finally some sun!!

So its only February and I'm already tired of being in the house. Fortunately on Sunday it was warm enough to go outside. We aren't out for long, but at least we are outside. The sun makes a huge difference. I love the sun!!!

Here we are, all bundled up riding our bikes. Elsie is actually figuring out how to pedal, but has an issue with steering. She's just not a multi tasker yet. Reid just scoots along with his feet.

Sitting in our cars, coasting down the driveway.

Same here.

They insisted on having their glasses on. I don't blame them, it was really sunny out. I think it was 35 degrees out.

Elsie looking fashionable.

Balloons and "Wagie Rides" for Tuesday

Tuesday and Piper

You might remember when I posted about our twin friend Tuesday. Well I'm sad to say that she lost her battle with cancer. I have been looking at Reid and Elsie since I got the news last Friday and thinking, what if that was us???? I don't know what I would do. There were at least 20 moms from our web group that flew out to Denver for the memorial/celebration on Saturday. It started at JK's home with a wagie ride(one of Tuesday's favorite things) to the park where the service was held. Then they were having music, food and a balloon release in her memory. For those of us who couldn't go, we were asked to join in wherever we were. Today we couldn't go for a wagon ride, it was a little too windy and cool, but just this past week we had a great sunny day and we went out. Here we are in our usual pattern. Elsie riding and Reid pulling.


Reid doesn't give up. He is one determined little boy.

We also decided to send off some balloons in Tuesday's honor. We had to get extra balloons so we still had some left in the house. I didn't want tears because we had sent our balloons away in the sky.

We were practicing holding on tight.

We made it out the front door.

Managed to pose for a picture.

And off they go. Almost missed this one.

And there is the other one, floating away.

We waited until after naps to do this. All I heard for the rest of the day was. Balloons, all gone, bye, bye, Tuesday, sky.

I hope Tuesday is enjoying all of her balloons!!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow

No new posts because there hasn't been much going on. It has been snowing a lot and we don't get out much. One day last week I went to help my friend Phia out with a couple of things. When her kids got home from school they wanted to take my kids out in the snow. Not a problem. Well I ended out there with them, not dressed for it at all. But the kids had a good time while they were out there. Megan was pulling them through all the snow in her backyard. Thats not an easy feat. Its at least 60 lbs. It looks like they were enjoying it.

On the way back, Elsie walked with much help. This is Megan trying to help her.
Reid and Nicholas heading down a little hill.

So on the weekend, Uncle Rick came to stay for a couple of days after their sales meeting. Daddy and Rick decided to take them sledding(or tobogganing as we say in Canada). Fortunately the old owners of our house left this oldschool toboggan. It worked perfectly. Here they are getting ready to go. You can't tell from the pics, but it was sooooo cold out there. The wind was really bad. We only ended up doing a couple of runs and heading home. I think the kids liked it though. There were no tears.

I almost missed them in this shot. I love this pic. Elsie has her hands covering her eyes. Rob is trying desperately to steer, Reid is just hanging out and Rick is being a ham, waving.

Here they go, coming from the top.

The pull up the hill is the worst part.

There they are, way down at the bottom.

Today it was actually in the 40's. A whole lot of melting was going on today. Its probably good that we took the kids. I hope that we don't get too much more snow.

Where have I been???????

No excuses from me, just a few new pics to catch you up on the last month.

This was as close as the kids would get to Santa this year. We saw him twice. This was the 2nd visit so they were getting a little more used to him. Elsie wouldn't get any closer at all. Reid actually talked to him, pointed at him and touched him on the nose and then said "nose". Yes Reid, Santa has a nose just like you do. This picture was from our local multiples Christmas party. Don't ask me why this is underlining everything. Can't figure it out, so bear with it. Read around the lines. We went to Nana and Papa's in Canada the weekend before Christmas. This was an attempt to get Nana a picture of her 3 grandchildren together. Not much co-operation here.

It snowed a lot while we were there. We bundled everyone up and took them outside for some fun. I was still hobbling with my broken, healing foot, so Mom got to pull the kids around. The guys were cleaning the driveway.

I think we need to get a bigger sled.

We made it back home after the roads opened at my moms place. We were able to spend Christmas at home with us and the kids. We had a few small gifts to open on Christmas day from us and Santa. It was a nice relaxing day.

On Boxing day we headed to SouthBend to see the other half of the family. Here is a great shot of Aunt Sarah(formerly Aunt RaRa) and the kids. They love their Aunt Sarah. She worked hard to get them to say her name first over anyone else and it worked. Now this weekend, they wouldn't stop saying it. Everytime she walked in the room she was announced. Everytime she left, we had to look for her. It was cute at first. Annoying by the time we left.

So you spend all the money on toys and gifts, and of course as usual, they play in the boxes.

Elsie's turn. Thats something that I am hearing often these days. Reid turn, Elsie's turn. They are learning to share and take turns. Not all the time, but most of the time.

We were able to leave for a day and head into Chicago. (thank you gramma) The kids stayed with Gramma overnight. We went to see the Winter Classic Hockey Game at Wrigley Field. We didn't have tickets, we just went and hung out at a bar with some friends of Rob's from work. It was a lot of fun. Thankfully Detroit won since I wore my jersey.

One of our favorite things these days is trains. Aunt Lisa got Reid his first starter kit for his birthday and then they got more for Christmas. We have a table set up in the basement. Its great that I can just send them down there to play now. They are getting so grown up.

Things are getting back to normal around here now. I am back to work finally. My foot actually feels pretty good. I did my first 12 hr day and it went pretty well. The kids are back to their gymnastics class, playgroup and a storytime at the library. I figure if we have activities planned for 3 out of 5 days of the week it will keep us busy. Then on the weekends we can find things to do together as a family. I think its going to be a long winter with the freezing temps we had this week and all the snow we have.

Our First Real Christmas Tree

The last time that I had a real tree I think I was maybe 10 or so. Probably younger, mom would be able to tell you. Rob really wanted a real tree. We actually haven't had a tree at all for the last few years. Rob had to go out on his own and get it since I am still disabled. He took Reid with him and went out. He ended up at Lowe's getting one. It was really hard to pick out the tree on his own with Reid with him, but I think he did a great job.

Here are the kids sitting in front of the tree before it was decorated. The kids are very excited to come downstairs everyday and turn the lights on. So far we have no broken ornaments. We have the tree in our front room and it is gated so we can keep the kids out. They can gaze at it from the kitchen.

I put all unbreakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree. Here they are sitting in front of the tree posing and yelling Merry Christmas. This year will be fun!!