Christmas Time

Jeremy and I try to take turns taking the boys places separately. Whoever stays home tries to make it a 'fun' day so they don't feel like it is a punishment that brother got to go and he had to stay home.

It was Mason's turn to leave with Daddy. So Hagen and I had fun getting ready for Christmas. We put up the Christmas tree (including a small one in their playroom - which I took down since then because they wanted to plug and unplug it - yIkEs!!).

~ Yep, still working on that smile ;-)

So, one of the sweetest moments... when it was time for his nap, he wanted to sleep with Mason's penguin also! He really missed his bubba. He kept saying, 'Bubba?' I would say, 'He is with Daddy, they will be home later.'

After he got up from nap, we decided to make some homemade sugar cookies. Hagen LOVES to cook with me.
And since 'messy' is his middle name... he loved making sugar cookies! Here he is helping me spread the flour on the counter so we could roll the dough out.

What a pro! Doesn't he look cute ;-)

Perfect timing, Mason got home when the cookies were cooled and it was time to decorate.

Their favorite part was putting the M&Ms on the trees to make them look like Christmas lights. *Why am I not surprised this was their favorite part??*

Eating their Christmas tree cookies.

Pictures

I found out a girl at my church takes pictures as a hobby/part time job. She does a wonderful job!!! She was a great price and the pictures turned out better than I could have ever expected! We usually do Portrait Innovations (a local studio), but the boys do so much better if they are outside and in a 'fun' environment. We went to this great place that has a barn, neat old house with a porch, tractors, and lots of trees.... perfect for pictures. If you are in the area and looking for someone to take some great check Kortney Scott out - here is her website. A Timeless Treasure

Mason
Hagen

SNOW

It might not have been much and it didn't last long... but it was so fun showing the boys what snow is! Hagen was super excited when he made a snow ball and it landed on Daddy!

My Milestone

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things. I talked to my grandmother on the phone the other night and I put the boys on to say 'hello' to her. When I got back on the phone with her, she was choked up and said,'They weren't suppose to be able to do that.' She was referring to how early they were and the odds they had stacked against them. It was neat to see my grandmother, usually very stoic, become emotional as she realized how far the boys have come.

Some of you know that my grandmother has lung cancer. As her lungs weaken, she still puts on her strong face and attitude. My grandmother means the world to me. She is so feisty and although we have been through alot, she still has so much to give. I call her my Juila Child, she taught me how to cook and I'm sure much of my strength (mental) comes from her. I love you Mamaw, more than you will ever know.

She is the mother of my mother, which leads me to my milestone. I am officially older than my mother ever was. Wow, a very powerful statement there. I'm sad for my mother, sad that she didn't get to experience all that life has to offer ~ she didn't get to see me grow up and meet her amazing grandchildren. I pray that my life is double her life and I get to experience all the things she did not with my children.

On this Thanksgiving, I pray that I, along with all of you, remember what you are truly thankful for. Not that the turkey and dressing is so good, but that you are surrounded around those that you love and thankful for the precious time we have with each other. Don't ever take a day for granted.

Speaking of thankful... I am so thankful to God for these little turkeys and all the joy they bring to our lives.

2 Bottles of Whine-Free Wonder, Please

Oh how I wish I could bottle up this 'stage', take out the whiny-ness, 'no', and temper tantrums... but leave in the wonder, peculiar faces, big eyes full of curiosity, huge hugs, sloppy kisses, and peaceful sleeping faces.

I don't even want to think about the fact that the boys are already 2 1/2. I look at baby pictures and then look at the boys and it is all gone, no baby anywhere on them. I have looked all over and it is all boy, all toddler... with one foot in preschool. Where did it go? I can only find it in picture form now. Makes me want to cry... :-(

I know ~ I don't want them to be babies forever, but I only got the baby stage once. Now it is gone ... (I wonder if that lady that had 8 babies at once has these feelings?? ha ha ha)

Okay, all that to say - remember this is my online journal that YOU just happen to be able to see. So sometimes I will record stuff that might not be interesting to you, but I want to document it for the boys to see one day.

Hagen: after going potty in the potty chair always picks the brown M&M (of course today he picked the red one out of no where ~ he has picked brown for like 2 months now); only uses his pedals on his tricycle now; comes up to Daddy and Mommy and hugs and kisses us at random times ~ just because; wears his feelings on his sleeves, huge heart; alas, yes... still a daddy's boy; huge helper, loves to help with anything and everything! Hagen has started to have 'fears' - he doesn't like the dark and most nights he cries and doesn't want to go to bed. Something also happened in the garage with their toy trucks because now he won't have anything to do with it. We are giving them away because if he even sees it in the garage he flips out! When we are in public, Hagen thinks it is fun to run away from us (we think he really just likes the idea of being chased... but we are constantly 'talking' to him about how dangerous that is...), loves any kind of bread (still), blueberries, dessert, and spaghetti.

Mason: always the entertainer - even if it isn't remotely funny, Mason will inevitably think it is hilarious; the boy is made of steel - he can be going 90 miles and run into a wall and literally bounce off of it and keep going! CrAzY! My studier, thinker, contemplator; he always picks the green M&M. Every morning I am woken up with Mason saying either, 'Dada home' or 'Dada work'. Mason keeps me on my toes, if he isn't suppose to get into it - he will find it and get into it no matter how much trouble he gets into. Mason rarely throws temper tantrums because he just waits until we walk out of the room and finds a way to get whatever he wants, has really been using his left hand alot to eat lately, loves grapes, yogurt, and oatmeal. Hagen was the biter when they were younger and now Mason is the biter, he doesn't think twice - he grabs and chomps.

H & M: they are both carrying their plates to the sink after meals; washing their hands without being told; and they have finally adjusted to the toddler beds (no more playing outside of our beds before going to sleep), they are playing so much more together... I hardly ever catch them playing by themselves - if they are, it is usually with the same toys near each other.

The other night we headed over to Gran's to take her a pie for her birthday. It is so neat now that they have all this vocabulary they can have conversations with us and ask us those burning questions that confuse them. Our conversation went something like this:

The sun had already gone down and Mason said, 'Sun? Sun back.'

Mom: The sun will come back tomorrow.

Mason: Sun back. Sun back. Bye-bye Sun.

Mom: Don't worry, he will come back. The moon is out.

Mason: Moon. Moon. Bye Bye Moon. Sun back. Sun back.

Mom: The sun went night-night.

Hagen: SSSHHH! Sun night-night.

Mason: Wake up Sun. Wake up Sun. Bye -bye Moon.

Mom: He will wake up in the morning. He needs to sleep.

Hagen: Shhh! Sun night-night. Moon.

I could just see their little minds processing. Tonight at dinner, Mason remembered our conversation and said out of no where, 'Night night Sun.' I grabbed the camera and got a little of it.

And just for fun, here is a cute video.

Hurst Fire Station

My mothers of multiples group went to one of our local fire departments for a tour. We got very lucky, it was a brand new one and so beautiful!

Here we are about to go... still working on smiles ;-)

(but Momma, what's wrong with my cheesy grin??)
Here we all are, ready for the tour. (What a great turn out ~ look at all of us!!)

The parents asked most of the questions and were interested in the inside of the house; kitchen, sleeping quarters, etc. But we all knew what the kids were there to see...

Mason walking on the balcony anxious to see the trucks up close. I missed it in the shot, but the pole they slide down was beside him.

Here are Daddy and the boys headed down the stairs just in time to see...

one of the fire trucks returning from a call. Perfect timing!!

It turned out that we planned this on one of the coldest days this season! But thankfully the trucks were in the warm garage.

One of the firemen demonstrated how they slide down the pole. We had two dads on our tour and the firemen wouldn't let the dads slide down the pole. (I think they were both disappointed!)

Mason and Hagen were so excited!! Their two favorite things right now are trains and fire trucks. Helicopters are running a close third.

Well, help yourself Mason - notice him just climbing up into the truck like he owns it. (When he was in it, he kept saying, 'Dada work.' Yep, kind of like Daddy's work truck...)

Hagen and Mason checking out the ambulance.

Pointing out the fire truck and making the fire truck sound.

Hagen wanting to drive the ambulance.

One of the new recruits. (Jennifer's little boy, Joshua ~ isn't he a cutie!)

More perfect timing! We were almost done with our tour when the ambulance got a call. We got to see them jump in, turn on the lights and head out.
Bye-bye ambulance!

Then one of the fire trucks went with them. They jumped in and left. It happened so fast, but it was so neat to watch. I think all the kids (including some adults) just stood with their mouths opened watching.

Bye-bye fire truck! Mason still checking out the one fire truck that was left.

Seeing all those fire trucks worked up an appetite, so we headed over to Chickfila to get some food. I still think it is hilarious to watch people's faces when we all walk in. Two sets of triplets and 6 sets of twins.

The fire fighters were so great! It was by far one of my favorite play dates we have had. We have such an amazing country with fire fighters that risk their lives to come and help people no matter what the situation. How much time does it really take to bake/buy some treats and take them to your local fire station and thank a fire fighter?

Duck, Duck, Poop

After our speech meeting, we went to a park near the school. We saw ducks in the water and thought it might be fun for the boys to see ducks (in the water).

As soon as I got out of the car - there they were, about 8 of them... lined up right beside my door! I got Mason out and I thought he would be scared. What was I thinking. He charged them! Hagen was a little more hesitant. He called out to them from a distance.

Here is Mason taking charge ~ 'kak, kak, kak' (His version of quack.)

Hagen


Daddy took them on the deck.

The boys are watching the ducks, trying to touch the water. Jeremy is looking back at me making sure I'm not going to fall in the water trying to get this picture. (He told me if I fell in, he was not coming in to get me. Aww, how sweet, thanks honey.)

Where does the poop come in? Right here... so the boys are watching the ducks, Jeremy is watching the ducks and the boys. I am snapping pictures. I then look down and notice there is poop (dried and fresh) covering the dock (and the bottoms of all our shoes).

We decided to leave the dock and start walking on the grass to try to get some poop off.

Hagen wanted to swim with the ducks.

My attempt at a group picture.

Another attempt.

Hagen wanted to jog around the lake/pond. Daddy had to 'jog' half way around it to get him :-)

Happy Birthday Gran!!! Hope you have a great birthday - we love you. Smoochies.

Speech

We had our meeting with the school district for the boys' speech. (Weird being on the parent side instead of the teacher side).

Anyway, we really liked the teacher. (There are two and we met the other one briefly, they both seemed very nice.)

They have two different programs.
One is 'walk in' speech. The boys would go once a week for about 30 minutes. This is the program they will more than likely start out in. There are usually 3 to 4 kids in the class. It will be at their 'home' campus (the school they would go to kindergarten).
The other program is called PLAY. (Don't remember the full acronym - Preschool Language Aquisition ?? something something??) This program is more intense. It is twice a week for 1 1/2 hours. They have two teachers and it is about 10 kids. They would be on a different campus (actually only a few blocks from their home school). The problem is there is a waiting list (3 kids are already on it above the boys). I would love for them to be in this program. She said more than likely they will still be on the wait list when they start speech, so she said they will start in the walk in program and then hopefully once there is an opening they would move into the PLAY program.

I can't believe they will start this in March! Anyway, I did ask about being separated and she said, more than likely not. I didn't think to ask if only one slot opened in the PLAY program.

Here are Hagen and Daddy walking up to the school for the meeting.

Mrs. Amy met us there for the meeting. It was nice having her there to hear and participate in the meeting. I love how the school district works with ECI to make it such a smooth transition.