Tornado Twins

Well, another month has gone by and I have barely had a chance to BREATHE let alone sit down to write a blog post.  The last month has been a true trial of love and extreme patience.

First of all, the girls have been SICK SICK SICK.  They both had bronchiolitis, which if you remember from January, we are right back to the inhalers like we were with the RSV.  Luckily we have dodged stomach viruses (for now).  However, Emma had an ear infection 2 weeks ago, and now Janey is on the verge of one.  Oy.

We have also been trying to catch up with family and friends, as we have been literally imprisoned in our home for 2 months because of sicknesses.  Hershey was sick, I was sick, and the girls have been Sick.  Whew.  We are ready for a break.

Trying to keep the girls busy and entertained while they are sick is proving to be a challenge.  I mean, how do you explain to a one year old that they are sick and need to stay inside, warm and cozy, so that they don't get worse?  There's just no way.  So we've been using our imaginations...











As you can see by our beautiful sectional sofa behind them, Jane and Emma have started a climbing stint.  A couple of weeks ago, Jane went right over the arm of the sofa onto her head on the hard wood floor.  I think I lost a couple of years off of my life on that day, and now we have to find creative ways to keep them off of the couch.  I am now raising puppies. Hmpf.  

And just to prove that I am raising puppies, Daddy decided to keep the girls occupied one day while I was making lunch to keep them out of the oven, off of the couch, and out from under my feet.  The results were frightening...












As you can see, it all went downhill very quickly.

Last weekend, we got to see Hershey's sister and brother-in-law (the girls' godparents).  It was a much-needed visit with them, since we haven't seen them since the summer and we missed them so-so-much.  The girls have been getting quicker to warm up to people who they haven't seen in a while, so they had a great time playing with all of Hershey and Heather's old toys with their aunt and uncle and Grandma and "Papa".  Adorable.









Today and tomorrow, we have a much-needed break -- HOORAY FOR TEACHERS' CONVENTION!  Although, I don't know how much of a break it is for Hershey and I.  Hershey is sick (again), and the girls are in rare form.  This morning, we got up at 6:30, and I made them a BIG breakfast, which they proceeded to throw all over the dining room softball style.  They then fought and pushed and shoved each other for about half an hour, at which point I brought them upstairs and let them tear the bathroom apart so that I could shower.  Story hour came next, and when we got home, they fought and stood on chairs until I served them lunch, at their big girl table...





This adorb-ness lasted precisely long enough for me to take these pictures, because immediately after this, that handful of peas that Jane is holding went onto the floor.

The one lovely thing about the past 8 weeks is that we got to thoroughly enjoy the fall foliage on our property.  It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL where we live, with all of the mountains and lakes.  I even made an attempt at decorating our front doorstep, although we never got to carve our pumpkins since we were all sick the week of Halloween!




I don't know about the rest of you, but I am totally ready to kick this holiday season off!  We may have even already read How the Grinch Stole Christmas with the girls once or twice.  We are hosting Christmas this year (the first time my husband will EVER get to just stay home for his birthday!), so we are now in a mad dash to try to finish the last of our really big home improvement projects by then, all while suffering from constant runny noses and coughs.  Nothing that a little Hug Machine can't cure.

Sorry for the SUPER long post.  Hopefully I'll be able to get on to keep you updated more often, which will mean shorter posts!

Happy holiday season kick-off everyone!  xoxo

Chatty Little Pumpkins

Ok, ok.  I owe you an apology.  A whole MONTH has gone by, and I haven't been able to get around to writing a blog post!  In my defense, we have friends who say that we are like skunks - disappear in the fall, all over the place all summer long - and it's totally true.  Shut your mouth about the smelly part....

This month has been pure insanity, guys, so THANK YOU, so much, to those of you who have stuck with us.  I've been trying to update Facebook and Instagram, but my cell phone keeps running out of storage and...well...life is what happens when you're out making plans.  And so it's gone.

We went back to school the first week of September, and the girls started day care at the same time.  They have been snot factories ever since, and after 2 doctor visits ($40 later), we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will be covered in a thin film of slime from now until May, and then we'll be able to move on.



We also finished the mud room in our house.  After LOTS and lotsandlotsandlotsandlots of spackle, we painted the room and I even went a little Pinterest happy on the steps (see my love affair with home projects in my former post).  The really fun part about this project?  The part where we realized that the color that we bought was completely different than the color that we thought we were getting when we were 7/8 of the way done with the paint job.  Oy vey.  I had to hear a lot of "I TOLD YOU IT WAS PINK" talk (that's what you get when you send the color blind chick to the store, aka moi) as we re-painted and finished up with the CORRECT color.  Anything to get rid of the scratch up, nicked up, diarrhea color.

We have also had a couple of serious chatterboxes on our hands.  We are starting to have to really watch what we're saying around Jane and Emma, which, if you know teachers, is turning out to be harder than I could have ever imagined.  I swear, teachers are the biggest potty-mouths out there!  But the twincesses are repeating EVERYTHING now...




They are also imitating everything:


I caught Emma reading this book in a rare moment where the hair on the back of my neck stood up because I was in the kitchen with Jane and Emma was in the living room - ALONE - and was dead quiet.


Typically the silence means that something more like THIS is happening these days:


Yes, they are totes tall enough to get up on the couch on their own now.




But they are also really starting to play together (and get into trouble together) and even though Hershey and I say the word "no" more than we say anything else in a day, and even more so because we are high school teachers, they have become INDEPENDENT WOMEN and are off to the races doing things their way or the highway.  Which also means a lot of bumps, bruises, and hysterical crying.






The great news about this past month was that I was able to sneak out for a little Mama's night out action with my BFF.  We went to see LUKE HOTTYPANTS BRYAN!  I'll pause to wait until you can see through the jealousy.  It was so much fun, and he was so good.  My mother-in-law came to help my hubs with the kids, and I was on the next train to the hottest cowboy around.  We met at a concert, and we haven't been to a concert together since before her daughter was born soooooo 5 years???!!!  CRAY!!!  



Now, that's MY kind of night!

Hope that you are all enjoying this sweet autumn weather so far.  We're hoping to get some pumpkin picking in soon, although we have a VERY busy October ahead of us.  I'm going to be trying to dig out our Halloween deco, although I DID get a jump start last weekend on our TV credenza.  I also hit up Trader Joe's for some pumpkin muffin mix and pumpkin waffles and pumpkin pancake mix and ... well, you get the idea.


WOOT!

Thanks again for sticking around, and for all of your sweet and thoughtful comments.  I've been having trouble commenting back, but I promise that I read and appreciate every single word you send our way.

Have a pumpkinny weekend everyone!

xoxo


Oh, and please PLEASE please click below to vote for us!  :)


If you like what you just read please click to send a quick vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs- The best mommy blog directory featuring top mom bloggers



Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs