July 30, 2014, at 10:27 pm | Everyone needs an Alli. Someone to shop with you even in the heat and among crowds, walk with you even when it involves carrying recalcitrant children along rocky paths, boat with you even when your tube self-destructs, 4-wheel with you even in the mud and over bee hives, eat out with you even when your children are climbing all over her and eating off her plate, babysit for you even when your children fall out of cribs for the first time, clean with you even after a kid birthday party involving lots oodles of candy and sticky pink frosting, bowl with you even with bumpers and surrounded by rowdy campers, swim with you even when it means getting thrashed in chicken fights with zealous uncles, help you by making your kids feel special even if it means a sleepless night sharing a bed with a wiggleworm, discuss life with you even if involves patiently listening to your imperfect advice…
In short, I miss Alli terribly now that she’s back in Arizona! It was amazing having her here for so long. I’m so thankful for all her help with the kids, but mostly just for being such a great person to be around (and I’m thankful to her family for lending her to us for the summer!). I know she’s going to do really well at college this fall, and I can’t wait to see her again soon. You always have a place in our house, and in our hearts, dear Alli!
Just look at these pictures – don’t you wish you had your very own Alli?!?
            
July 29, 2014, at 11:00 pm |
July 28, 2014, at 10:50 pm | Becky: You are a logical, adventurous, sensitive, intellectual, high-spirited, competitive, imaginative, thoughtful young lady who challenges and inspires me every day. You have the best questions and observations, and love to understand how the world works. You are a daredevil when it comes to rollercoasters, heights, and four-wheeling/motorcycling with Daddy, and you’re just now starting to be braver with water activities (it took you a looooong time to get comfortable with the pool and the lake, and we’re so proud of your progress!). You are amazingly patient and kind and protective of Danny, and although Jimmy annoys you to no end, you still include him in your activities. You love to be around your sister; in fact, you really struggled when you recently spent the night apart for the first time. You and she can play happily for hours together, weaving stories and making obstacles courses and castles and doll houses. You love to watch any movie or TV show, especially anything about princesses. You are reading and writing very well, and you constantly impress me with your academic talents. You have a strong temper that you are learning to control, and you’ve come a long way in recent months with handling your emotions. You’re an outgoing friend and you adore having playdates with classmates and neighbors, and you’re great at leading a group and planning games. You love nothing better than a party, and you have amazing energy to run around in circles for hours, but you can also sit quietly and color for hours. You adore crafts and you draw beautiful, creative pictures. You really teach me new things every day, and I am so excited to get to know the six-year-old you this year, and see what adventures we take together!
Susie: You are a playful, imaginative, social, sweet, caring, easy-going, chatty, dreamy, bubbly young lady who amuses and inspires me every day. You see the best in every situation, and bring out the best in every person you encounter. You love to serve others and dream up ways of making people happy. You are easily put off by scary or stressful scenes in movies, and don’t like to be around conflict. You love the water, and can swim and splash around like a fish for hours. You love to be with all your siblings, and you’re very patient with them all. You and your sister are amazingly, beautifully close – it’s like every night is a slumber party and every day is a playdate with you two. You are a bit flighty and “blonde” at times, and your kindergarten teacher said you could probably chat less and listen more, but you have done very well in school and are learning to read and write on target. You desperately want to be grown up, with all the privileges and excitement that entails. In fact, you told me this morning: “Now I’m six…and I can’t WAIT to be seven!” You love to laugh and giggle and dream, and you are easily inspired. You can read about something from a library book, and you instantly want to recreate it at home, and you do! You’re excellent at executing your dreams. You love horses and dogs and cooking and friends and princesses. You are a joy to be around, and I’m so excited to get to know the six-year-old you this year, and see what dreams we can make happen next!
July 25, 2014, at 10:15 pm | Today we celebrated the girls upcoming 6th birthday (SIXTH! How is that possible?) with a few of their friends. Never having planned a party with kid games before, I was a little nervous, but Pinterest served me well and all the activities were lots of fun!
The theme was Princess/Hello Kitty. That’s what you get when you throw a party for twin girls! Thankfully both those themes are entirely pink. :)
 
Cousin Alli gifted the girls with their very own princess tiaras and wands before the party (after also curling their hair into gorgeous ringlets), so the girls felt very much like princesses:
For games, after the kids all made Fruit Loop necklaces, we did “pin the crown on the princess”:
 
And a fun game where I had the kids bop balloons all over the room accompanied by princess music, and then every child grabbed a balloon when the music stopped. I drew a name out of a bag, and then that child got to pop their balloon and do the silly activity that I had previously placed on a piece of paper inside the balloon (like hopping like a frog, or making a crazy face). The kids LOVED getting to pop balloons!
Then we had the kids see who could wrap each other up the fastest and best with yellow crepe paper to simulate Rapunzel’s hair:
    
And of course we had to do a piñata!
They had worked up an appetite!
For their cake, I copied a picture that my aunt had posted on Facebook of a dress made entirely of cupcakes. I had my local grocery store bake, frost and assemble them:
And then I added a wand, tiara, ribbon, and sugar pearls for decoration. I loved how it turned out!
So did Danny (note to self – bright pink frosting is difficult to clean off of just about everything, including skin!):
Lastly, the kids used these awesome sticker-by-the-number kits to decorate their own foam tiaras. Here’s Becky sporting hers, along with a candy-hued blue mustache:
And here’s Danny’s self-made version:
I couldn’t have done this party without amazing help from my mother-in-law, my niece Alli, and some of the big sisters of our guests who are expert child-wranglers. It was a group effort, and the girls (and I) loved every minute of it!
July 24, 2014, at 9:59 pm | I took the kids for their first trip to the Dollar Store using their hard-earned dollars. They were beyond excited to choose their own toys and hand the cashier their coins. And I loved having them spend THEIR money, not mine!
July 23, 2014, at 10:22 pm | I’ve been having the kids do more chores for me around the house this summer, but for the most part, their efforts end up ADDING to my work load rather than relieving it (picture Jimmy and Danny running around willy-nilly with squirt bottles of cleaning solution). I’m happy to have them continue to practice, since I know it’s only through repetition that they’ll improve (and I’ll end up reaping the benefits…eventually). I’ve been having the girls put away their own laundry, but I hadn’t asked them to fold the clothes in a long time. So I recently set out a basket of clothes pulled from the dryer and tasked Becky with folding them. I expected to have to re-fold the clothes, but lo and behold, she did it beautifully! She even grouped them by person/drawer. I was so proud, and also so pleased that it was one less load of clothes I had to personally fold!
 
July 22, 2014, at 11:27 pm |
July 21, 2014, at 8:40 pm | Thanks to Alli’s patience and persistence, Jimmy has been making strides in his speech pronunciation. Here’s a little video showing his progress:
July 20, 2014, at 10:52 pm | Anytime I can’t find Danny in the house, I know where to look – the garage! The other day I found him sitting in the tractor, covered in grease from who knows what, happily yelling “GO tractor GO! GO tractor GO!” Maybe he thought he could make it move by sheer willpower. ;)
Here he is showing off his “grease monkey” hands and face:
July 18, 2014, at 8:48 pm | Remember this video? The kids still find making faces in the glass to be very entertaining!
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ABOUT US I'm blessed to be saved by the grace of God, loved by my wonderful husband Jim, and embraced by my twin girls, Rebecca Faith and Susanna Joy and my sons Jimmy and Danny. I started this blog in May 2008 when I was hospitalized for pre-term labor at 24 weeks gestation. The Lord allowed me to keep the girls inside until they were 34 weeks along, and on July 27th, Rebecca made her debut, followed by Susanna, five minutes later, on July 28th. We ecstatically welcomed Jimmy into our lives on April 25th, 2011, and Danny on August 31, 2012. This blog has been a personal journal of faith and motherhood and the only way I can remember which child did what and when. Thanks for stopping by to share in my Faith and Joy! Feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected]. |
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