Pomegranate

Last Friday, I had a book signing at my sister's restaurant (Pomegranate) in Troutville, VA.

It. Was. Amazing.

Yep, they're our kids

Rain

Big Kid Bed Update

Well, it's been two weeks since we took the twins' cribs apart and put them in their big kid beds (i.e. two foam mattresses on the floor). At first, they each had a mattress on one side of the room. But, when we would check on them before we went to bed, one of them had made his/her way over to the other's bed. So, we decided to put the mattresses next to one another. 

They've been doing okay. The going-to-sleep part is easy. They do that rather well. It's the staying-asleep part that they have trouble with. And there are a few causes (in my opinion) to this. First, they're rolling off the bed and hitting the wall or the dresser, which scares them and then they sometimes can't go back to sleep. Second, Viv has had 10 night terrors in the last 2 weeks. It has been terrible. For me. She usually goes right back to sleep, but her screaming sometimes wakes up Gavin. And then, he's awake. Other than those two issues, the transition has been better than we thought it would be.

They definitely like sleeping together, but they also kick each other and steal one another's blankets from time to time as well. Lucky for you, I've taken photos on them in their crazy sleeping positions over the last 2 weeks. Here are the highlights:

Vivian Obsessions

Little Miss Vivi is obsessed with shoes. Her shoes, Gavin's shoes, my shoes, and Wes' shoes. Every morning, she picks out her own shoes to wear for the day (which usually do not match her clothes at all), wears them all day long (protesting whenever anyone tries to remove them), and generally falls asleep in them at bedtime. Yesterday, I came into our bedroom to this:

These are my wedding shoes. She instantly fell in love.

Some kids...

... even have to go to time out at the park.

He's a Rebel

Wes recently tried to give Gavin a hair cut while I was at work. He apparently sat still for all of 5 minutes and then screamed and squirmed in a quite ridiculous manner. When I came home, only half of his head was trimmed. And he wouldn't let Wes finish.

After about an hour, I asked him if Wes could cut his hair again. "No, Mommy cut."

Okay. So, I sat him down and started trimming. Then, I cut a huge hole in his hair on the back of his head. Shit.

It looked like he was going to have to get a buzz cut. But, we hadn't even touched the top of his head yet. So, he got a mohawk. Adorable.

The next day, I took G & V grocery shopping. Vivi sat on her pillow pet in the back of the cart and Gavin sat in the seat up front. This arrangement works out rather well for us. Gavin would never sit down the whole time (which is why he has to be strapped into the seat), but Vivi will. The downside to this arrangement is that Viv doesn't like it when the contents of the cart begin to cover her. So, once that starts, Gavin gets a lot of shit put on his lap and next to him. About 40 minutes into the shopping trip, Gavin began to demand strawberries from me. 

"Tawbewwy! Tawbewwy!" he yelled.

I replied, "Gavin, you can't have any strawberries right now. You'll have to wait until we get home."

"No, now!"

I thought to myself-- Where was this coming from? Gav and Viv are generally relatively good in the store. But today, Gavin was screaming at me in the produce section. Was it the hair? Did his new mohawk empower him to rebel against what I was saying?

Then, Gavin took this new found rebellion up a notch. "Tawbwwy, now!" he said. When I told him no for the 295th time, he began throwing stuff at me! He took everything off his lap, one thing at a time, and threw it out of the cart, at me! I'll admit that my first reaction was to laugh hysterically, but I refrained. Too bad all of the adults around me could not do the same. This just fueled Gavin's rebellious actions, which were now accompanied by loud giggles from both Viv and himself.

I tried to put everything back in the cart as quickly as he threw it out (while telling him to stop of course), but the laughter from the other shoppers just made Gavin throw stuff out faster than I could keep up.

He stopped after a few minutes and we went straight to the check out.

Maybe it is the hair. Damn mohawks.

Cake

This week, we made a cake.

A lemon cake.

With lemon icing.

 Yum!

Snack!

Vivi and Gavin are snack-a-holics. It seems like one of them is asking for a snack every 30 minutes or so (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little--but that's what it feels like!). It's out of control. Really, it's ridiculous. I hate giving them a graham cracker, piece of fruit, handful of goldfish, or pack of fruit snacks so many times through out the day, but I also hate listening to them whine about snacks over and over again. How often do your kids snack?

Two Minutes

Gavin and Vivian (mostly Gavin) have been visiting our "time out corner" a lot more lately. Gavin usually goes to time out for not listening to one of us, climbing things he shouldn't be climbing, and taking things from Viv. On the other hand, Vivi goes to time out for things like hitting and biting.

We have a bit of a routine when putting the twins in time out. First, we give them a warning ("If you hit your brother again, you're going in time out"). Then after they do it again (which almost always happens), we take them over to time out, explain why they are there, and tell them that they will sit in time out for 2 minutes. The best part here is that Gavin has been in time out so often, that he now yells "2 minutes! 2 minutes!" back to us when we first tell him that he has to go to time out. It's hilarious. After 2 minutes in time out, we tell them again why they are in time out, ask for an apology, and then give them hugs and kisses. Oh yeah, and if they leave the time out spot before the two minutes is up, they are quickly put back in their place.

It seems to work most of the time. Interestingly, Gavin gets very upset when he's put in time out, but Viv seems to care less.

We hope to keep this up so that maybe, just maybe, they can start to remember that time out is a consequence before they make that decision to hit, push, bite, or climb.

New School

When we first moved to Virginia, we found an AH-MAZING childcare center that we immediately fell in love with. Then, it closed and we were devastated. We signed the twins up for a different school last December, but we never really liked it. Okay, we didn't like it very much at all.

Then, about a month ago, I received a phone call. 

From the owner/director of our original childcare center! She said that she was going t be the new director of a new childcare center in Harrisonburg! 

We. Were. SOOOO. Excited! Not only was this new childcare center run by people who actually like kids (we always felt like no one liked working at the last center), but it was less expensive and more convenient to where we live!

Gavin and Vivian started at their new school this past Tuesday. Everyday this week, they didn't fuss at all when we dropped them off and they actually cried a few afternoons when we picked them up (saying things like: "No! Stay!" and "I stay!"). We couldn't be happier.

Where I'll be next Friday

(click on image to enlarge)

Lake Vacation ~ Part Three

Thursday (continued)

Auntie Bird and Joe arrived with presents for G & V. The first toy was a set of bubble guns. These were a HUGE hit with the twins.

Then, as Joe, Wes, and I swam in the lake, Auntie Bird, Gavin, and Vivian played with these weird foam squishy thingies that stuck together after getting wet. Viv was IN LOVE and Gavin thought it was VERY cool.

There was some serious playtime before and after dinner, which was made by Meghan and was incredible.

After the kiddos went to bed, Wes and Joe made a fire.

I fell asleep rather early (no surprise there) and Bird, Joe, and Wes stayed up late enjoying the fire.

Friday

Friday was a big day for all of us because we were renting another boat for the day! We piled in our car and drove for what seemed like forever to pick it up. At first, it seemed like the day was not going to go well...

But they cheered up rather quickly and we were good to go!

Once we figured out where we were, it was time to ride the raft! Joe went first and then Auntie Bird did it!

Gavin asked if he could go next. First, he went with me.

Then it was time to head back to our house for a nap. Once everyone woke up, we got on the boat again. We had a little fun on the boat while it was docked; trying to start the boat, posing for pictures, etc.

Once we got going, Gavin asked to ride the raft right away. This time, Daddy took him.

(And yes, he is standing.)

We returned the boat around 5, stopped to pick up a pizza, and headed home for a little more swimming and some vegging out.

Saturday

Saturday was our last day of vacation :-(  And, we had to be out of the house by 10am. Tear.

We tried to pack up as much as possible the night before and then spent the morning playing out by the water one last time and taking some group pictures.

In the above picture, we asked them to smile. In the below two pictures, we asked them to make a funny face. I have no idea why Gavin thought that turning upside down was a funny face. Crazy kid.

 

It was the perfect end to an amazing week on the lake!