Evelyn on Halloween

Evelyn on Halloween 2009 from Leigh on Vimeo.

Trick or Treat

This is the twins picking out their Halloween pumpkin. Sweetberry farms was closed, so we bought pumpkins at a local church. The girls picked little pumpkins that were sized just right for them.








Friday night we went to our annual Halloween party at the Donelson's. We were fairies and Andre was a fairy catcher. It took a while for the girls to realize he was wearing a fake mustache. I'm not sure if Rowan was ever fully convinced he wasn't just some strange man.

There were a ton of people this year and everyone's costumes were great. My favorites were Lyzz's as a Roller Derby girl, and her mom and stepfather's as the "Old Man and the Sea"



Andre's mom kept with the fairy theme and was a "Fairy Grandmother." We stayed way past the babies' bedtime, but I think they would have stayed even longer.














Babies don't care how late the party lasted the night before, they're up and ready to go. The girls made muffins together.

After breakfast, they painted their pumpkins.













Then it was trick or treat time. It was cold outside so they wore their little Bolivian sweaters from Abuelita. They were "Bolivian Fairies." Poor Andre had to work, but the rest of us headed to my sister's house to see family, give out candy, and trick or treat. The girls really enjoyed handing out candy to costumed children, and so when it was their turn they were ready.





Lately, the girls have been a bit shy with new people; especially men. But you'd never know it if you saw them trick or treating. Even tall scary Frankensteins were okay if they were handing out candy.

Forrest dressed as his father as a teenager; or perhaps he was suppose to be a "rocker." I told him it could be his alter-ego like a boy version of Hanna Montana. My sister was "crazy cat lady," which was surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) easy for her to pull together.

We went to about half a dozen houses and then returned home. The girls are too little to actually eat their candy; but that didn't change who owned it. Evelyn came home and marveled at her loot, picking up each shiny piece and sticking it in her mouth, wrapper and all, then throwing it aside to pull out the next piece of candy. Her little sugar empire and it was all hers.

Abuelita comes to visit

Andre's mom is making her annual tour of the States and has come to visit for a while. The girls are thrilled to have her here. Who can resist the love of a grandmother? They've been coloring and playing and just having the best time.

Liliana turns 4

The girls went to their first birthday party at Chucky Cheese last weekend to celebrate Liliana's 4th birthday. Its funny how children will suddenly act more mature around older children. The girls sat at the table with all the "big" kids and ate pizza and cake just like all the other girls.

This Chucky Cheese had a special play area for toddlers with little slides and games.



Lili is an absolute doll. She wore the cutest pink tutu-inspired skirt and her hair makes perfect little ringlets. She's very sweet too and kept calling the girls "my twins."

This is Lili with her mom, Jamie.

Birthdays for everyone

My nephew Forrest celebrated his 14th birthday this past week. Absolutely amazing. Its hard to believe he's that old. He plays the guitar and had a garage band party with lots of friends. They were actually quite good. You'd never guess they were so young. People came from a couple of streets up just to watch the band play.

I still remember when he was born. Mom and I drove up to see Scott and Laura. They were so in love with their new baby that not only did they refuse to set him down, but they refused to let anyone else hold him either. As I remember, mom and I did laundry instead. I think I got to briefly hold him for a picture and that was it. ha!


Little Austin also celebrated a birthday on the same day as Forrest. We missed celebrating with him because we live so far away, but we'll catch up soon.

And the really big news: we have three new additions to the family. Andre's cousin Lisa and her husband, Ross, had triplets! Two identical twin girls and a little boy, born October 12th. Their names are Issac, Violet, and Abigail. We are so excited the triplets are here.

When we first had the girls people would always stop us out in public and want to talk about the twins. People are fascinated with twins. I can only imagine what it would be like with triplets. People are going to go crazy over them. They're going to be famous babies everywhere they go. Triple congratulations!

Pumpkin time

Friday was a beautiful cool-ish day so we took the girls to pick out a pumpkin at sweet berry farm. They had so many pumpkins, gourds, squash, pumpkins and more pumpkins and then a few more pumpkins. It was a beautiful farm too. Apparently, they also have a blueberry and strawberry season.









They had lots of activities for kids, including a giant 4 acre maze in the shape of Texas. They have a few animals too--pony rides, several goats, and lots of lazy cats.

Sea World

Last weekend Andre and I took a mini-vacation to Sea World. I'd been putting in a lot of hours at work due to this case I was on and we all needed a break. I booked a little resort by the park and we spent one day at Sea World and one day at the resort. It was awesome.

The girls loved Sea World. Rowan was amazed by Shamu. She kept pointing and clapping at the Orcas; even clapping when other onlookers had stopped. In one part of the show they lower this big ball and Shamu jumps out of the water and hits the ball with his big mouth. Rowan was entranced. Evelyn was entertained for about five minutes and then grew tired of the killer whale and his antics. She spent most of the time studying the wheel of the stroller.

The girls were too little to ride any of the rides. Fortunately, my sister, nephew and his friend met up with us. Laura (sister) traded off watching the girls so we could enjoy the roller coasters. I don't know what it is about roller coasters, but they seem to become scarier as one gets older.

My mother and grandmother joined us all back at the resort. It was such a nice trip for all of us. I feel as if I can work and work and lose sleep, and stress out, if only I can have these nice getaways from time to time. Sure, it required me waking up at 5:30am Monday morning to drive to court, but it was worth it.

The girls seemed to have a good time too. They jumped on the big bed, and pushed luggage carts around, they swam in the pool, and ate lunch on the balcony. It was as much a vacation for them as it was for us.

The Pig Flu and Other Tales of Woe

Well, I have almost defeated the swine flu. My fever finally broke last night and I have been increasingly better today. Andre's IV's were very effective. Evelyn kept pointing to her arm and whining then pointing to my arm. I'd say, "do you want an IV too?" And she'd nod "yes." She was completely fascinated and wouldn't stop fixating on it.

Evey seemed well today. Rowan on the other hand woke up with little pink spots all over her. Plus, she was cranky and kept pulling her ear. Andre took her to the pediatrician and she had a rash caused by the virus she had, plus an ear infection. The pediatrician put her on medicine for her ear, plus flu meds for both girls just to be on the safe side. By this evening she seemed better too.

In other news, this is what we caught Evelyn doing tonight. She was climbing on top of her play kitchen so that she could kiss her own reflection in the mirror. She climbed up there by herself and quite fast too. The funniest thing was that she kept looking at herself, laughing, and kissing her reflection. If only we all had such a great self-esteem.


Rowan hasn't figured out how to climb on it yet and Evelyn is already at the very top. It just shows you that the girls have their own strengths, and sometimes Rowan will be the first and sometimes Evelyn will be the first. Every child is different.

She has amazing balance and upper body strength. She can hold onto ledges and almost pull herself up. She even carried my big heavy skillet to put it away today--I was helping her with it, but she was carrying most of the weight.

I'm feeling a bit piggish

So I've been sick since last Wednesday, and wouldn't you know--I have Swine Flu. Yeah, I can't believe it. I actually thought the doctor was joking when he said it.

The twins are both sick too, but they don't seem to be as bad. I took them to their pediatrician on Friday and she thought they just had a virus.

Poor Andre is playing nurse-maid to all three of us. He's hooked me up to an IV, so I'm getting plenty of fluids and I'm on meds. Being sick is the worst.

9-11-09

Andre played the bagpipes for the Annual 9-11 Memorial.

just playing

Play is underrated.

Kids understand the importance of playing. Of finding joy is the most basic thing. Of laughing. Of being silly. Of spinning around in circles, or making noises, or playing some funny game you just made up.

There are adults who don't know how to play. Who spend too much time trying to control the world around them and can't just let go. I don't really understand this. I've seen it, I've known these type of people, but it doesn't make sense to me.

My job, if anything, is a depressing job. People sit in my office and cry and tell me how their lives are falling a part. And I guess maybe its because of that, and maybe because of my own suffering that I value those moments when you can just run around the house chasing after your kids and acting like an idiot. I never once forget how quickly our lives can change.

So today after work, I let go of the fact that I was exhausted and played "duck, duck goose" and ran around the house. My favorite game to play with them is my version of Jack and the Beanstalk. I'll say, "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of a Bolivian." As soon as they hear that they both start giggling and running. I'll walk slow and heavy like a B-movie monster repeating the line until I finally catch one and say, "And here she is!" By then they are in hysterics. Rowan always wants to be caught and usually runs away then turns around and runs right into me so I can catch her.

Playing is good though. Its a great stress relief for us and a good coping mechanism when times are tough. People often comment on how happy the girls are, how much they laugh, and I have to think that at least some of that is how much we play with them. I want them to grow up understanding how wonderful life is and how to create joy. They'll learn soon enough how sad it can be, how hard it can be, and how disappointing it can be.

The girls definitely have their own sense of humor. Rowan loves anything really silly. Funny animals, silly songs, she loved Chucky Cheese--that sort of thing. While Evelyn really likes slapstick comedy. If you accidentally fall, she'll start cracking up.

The other day, Andre was holding a bag of crackers and when Evelyn reached in to get a cracker he shook the bag and made sort of a barking noise as if the bag was going to bite her--she thought it was the funnest thing ever. He tried the same thing with Rowan and she got really upset. On another occasion, Rowan was intentionally hitting her head against the wall because every time she did Evelyn laughed. I think Evelyn's going to appreciate darker humor. It will be fun to see how much of their sense of humor will remain and how it will evolve as they get older.

Labor Day Weekend

We celebrated Labor Day the traditional way, pool party and barbecue with friends.

I bought the girls new two piece swimsuits, which Andre did not approve of. I have discovered that the toddler bikini is a controversial subject. Where some people find it cute, others see it as a slippery slope to becoming a hoochy-mama. First the bikini, then the stilettos, before you know it its booze and late night partying. You really have to keep on your toes with this sort of thing. Luckily, Rachel came to the rescue with the explanation of the difference between a bikini and a two-piece.





All kidding aside, the girls are becoming more and more comfortable in the water. They'll jump to us from the side and Andre's been working with them to float on their backs. I really want to get them into a swimming class. The gym we joined has a huge indoor pool and several "water babies" classes. Actually, that was the motivation behind the two-piece. The girls are growing so quickly, I figured the two-piece would last through the winter until swimsuits went on sale again next summer.


Anyhow, Labor Day is an interesting holiday that no one in our group remembered the underlying purpose of. I told Andre it was to celebrate all women who had been in labor and therefore they should be honored on this most important holiday. He didn't buy it. Apparently, the day is in celebration of an 8-hour workday. I spent the Monday-holiday working only 5 and feeling like it was a great vacation. Poor Andre worked a full 24 hour shift.


The girls really love to walk around with things on their heads. Here's a picture of them walking around with their towels. They're so funny. They found my wedding veil and love to wear it. They'll even wear one of my skirts like a big veil. I guess if the "toddler bikini" doesn't work out they can always wear the "toddler burka."





After a day in the sun, they were completely worn out. This is two minutes into our ride home.

First Day of School

The girls went to their first day of "school" today. They are such big girls now.

We let them play for a few hours today. Andre said when he went to pick them up that Rowan saw him but wanted to keep playing with her new friends. They're only going for two days a week and I think they're going to really enjoy being around other kids.

Chucky Cheese

Its hard to say what the girls will be like as they get older--but they certainly have distinct personalities now.

We took the girls to Chucky Cheese for the first time this Sunday. We began to take a seat right up by the animatronics, but Evelyn took one look at the blinking mechanical dog playing a banjo and started screaming. So we sat on the side, where they could see--but not too close. I think this picture of Evelyn shows her complete and utter shock. She is actually watching the person dressed as a giant mouse--"Chucky Cheese" walk out onto the floor. She was not impressed.

Rowan is a completely different story. She saw Chucky Cheese and started waving at him from across the room, smiling and laughing, as if he was some friend at a party and she was waving him over. She bounced along to the silly music and couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Neither girl particularly enjoyed the rides, even the little bitty kid rides. They did like Skee Ball, but couldn't throw the balls hard enough to go farther than a foot.

We tried to take some good pictures of the two of them--but they move so quickly it's like trying to take a picture of a firefly.

Andre is against Chucky Cheese in general, and in particular. He wants the girls childhood experiences to be something you would see depicted on a box of granola or illustrated in a fly fishing magazine. You know, where the entertainment is learning how to tie nautical knots and identifying various animal droppings.

That's all well and good, don't get me wrong. I love to hug a tree as much as the next Austinite, but I want the girls to have a wide variety of experiences. I think you can appreciate the natural beauty of something like the Redwood Forest and also enjoy the complete gluttonous joy that is Disney World. Why does it have to be one or the other?

Parents make these kind of black and white, this or that choices on lots of things. I'm not talking about health and safety decisions, but rather the kind of things that don't really matter. Its the "parental snobbery" if you will. Such as, "My kid, will never, ever, ever, eat McDonald's, it's only (fill in the blank) food for my little one." As if one happy meal, and oops, there goes little Johnny's cholesterol, he's ruined.

You hear this kind of thing all the time. When my sister's son (and first child) was born she dressed him exclusively in ultra-cute, if not designer baby clothes. She'd say, "I'm not going to put anything on him that I wouldn't want to wear." Unfortunately, by the time he turned 2 he decided the only thing he would wear was T-shirts, shorts, and his favorite cowboy boots. ha!

I can't say that I am immune from my own parental snobbery. When the twins were expected I insisted on using only organic crib sheets. Why? Not because anything else was harmful, but because they were my babies and therefore needed the best and in my obsessive compulsive way I had decided that organic baby sheets were the best. Parental snobbery at its finest. I have since bought normal cotton sheets from Target. That's the other thing about parental snobbery, it fades with time and/or additional children.

There were other things too. Like bottles. We spent so much money on buying the "best" bottles and when it was all said and done my favorite were the cheap $2 bottles from the grocery store. What can I say? I was a victim of advertising and parenting magazines.

I can only begin to imagine all of the moments to come in which one of us will draw a line in the sand and firmly say, "not any kid of mine is going to ...". That is, of course, until the day when even our best intentions are overruled by our strong-minded children who already have opinions of their own.

Denver Trip

We flew to Denver this month making the girls fourth plane trip--and second fishing trip.

They are changing so quickly that each plane experience is completely different than the one before. What I have learned is: 1) babies are easier to travel with than toddlers; and 2) green tea has caffeine and caffeine is not good to give toddlers on plane trips; and 3) passengers who are already freaking out by being on a plane are going to become more annoyed by toddlers excessively trying to touch them or drop bottles in their laps.




Aside from the actual travel, the trip was quite nice. We bought the girls animal backpack/toddler leashes for the trip--which I know some people frown on. (I am certain that those people do not have two toddlers who move at the speed of light). The funny thing is that the girls love them. Evelyn actually started crying when I had to take off her monkey backpack to go through the x-ray machine at the airport. I had keep reassuring her that the monkey would come out the other side and that she would get it back.

We spent the first night at my Aunt Robin and Uncle Charlie's. Charlie is my mom's youngest brother, and they have two kids--Carl and Hudson. The girls had the absolute time of their lives. Not only do they have every toy imaginable, but the boys loved the girls and played with them the entire time.

My Aunt Donna, Uncle Jim, and their kids Claire and Duncan came over for dinner on our first night. Claire and Duncan are both so grown up now, its weird.

The next morning we all went to the Denver Zoo. It was their first experience in a big Zoo. I thought the girls may be a bit young to care about the animals, but they were so excited to see them. They would point at the animals and wanted to look at every one. Evelyn really liked the giraffes and Rowan liked the hyenas.



They had their first ride on a carousel too.


Our friends Amanda and Rachel met us at the zoo and we spent the rest of our trip with them.




These are our annual fishing trip friends, but this year the group went to Mexico and fearing the worst, we passed on taking the girls across the border. So we met up in Denver for a smaller, shorter version of our annual trip.









I really love these friends. They are the kind of people who make you want to be a better person. They are the kind of people who make you realize that your life is really what you make of it. And the crazy thing is, that they're all that way. We went to see a home that Chris (Amanda's husband) is renovating to be a professional kitchen for his catering company. It is awesome. I know its been an incredible amount of hard work and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am that he had the courage to follow his dreams that way. Amanda is the same with her solar power company. And Cris and Rachel are equally amazing in their lives.

The girls had a blast too. We spent one day hiking in Estes Park. I want the girls to have a love of nature. They stopped and picked flowers, they watched ground squirrels and chipmunks. It was great.













On the way back we stopped off at the Stanley Hotel which is the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shinning. We rented the film that night. Andre had never seen it. Its a great book, and the film was good--Jack Nicholson was great, but Shelley Duval? She's so annoying, halfway through you're routing for Jack to hurry up and do her in.

The next day we went fishing at another lake. Andre and I spent our time walking around with the girls and just relaxing.