three silly ducklings

the little camera women (8/11/09)

2009-11-21T13:44:00.003-05:00

I let Thing 1 have the camera, and this is what she captured. She kept calling "Daddy" but Daddy was at home in VA at the time.

Thing 2 had the camera this time, only to capture Thing 1's tantrum about having to give up the camera. Oh, what fun.

Trick or treat! (10/29/09)

2009-11-21T08:27:00.004-05:00

The area here is not trick or treating friendly, so we found a nice substitute. One of the local malls hosted a trick or treat even on Oct. 29th, so we dressed up everyone and went. They had a lot of fun!

Thing 2 is a princess, Thing 1 is a witch and Curious George is a pirate king. Curious George has planned out his costume months in advance, so it was only a matter of finding one he was happy about. On a side note, he has actually planned out costumes for the next 2-3 halloweens. The girls' costumes were a matter of convenience. The weekend before, we went out to the stores and happen to find these 2 at BabiesRUs at 50% off. That makes momma happy! It may not be so obvious, but they are a little small though. They are both sized 36 months. They really need 48 months, but such is the circumstance when you shop late.

Oh, I almost forgot. While shopping for swords that go with Curious George's pirate costume, he had to buy 2 extra ones for his sisters. It may be a tradition starting from Halloween of 2008, when even as fairies, Curious George had to have his sisters hold glowing swords.

We invaded the first bath of stores and the girls were busy planning on eating the candies already. Thank goodness for some candies without milk!
(Thing 1 has a hat with this costume, but she refused to wear it.)

Family picture! (Notice my already huge belly. I guess that's what happens the 3rd time around. I am only 16 weeks on this picture!)

Soccer 10/10/09

2009-11-20T22:10:00.004-05:00

I have tons of pictures and been too unorganized to post them. Some of the pictures are still on the camera, some on an external hard drive that isn't currently connected to my laptop, and some on Daddy's computer. I want to post them in order, but that just means I'm going to fall further and further behind. So without any more hoo haas, here are some of them.

This is the soccer on a rainy October day. It was fairly dry in the beginning but the rain came down hard in the middle. These little troopers of 4 and 5 year olds just kept on going without complaints.

The cheer leading team - (Thing 1 in pink, Thing 2 in white)

Big girls! Thing 2 is filling up because she eats like she's a bottomless pit, and Thing 1 is slowing down. Daddy and I now have to take a couple of seconds to tell them apart sometimes.

The little man of the hour during a pre-game drill.

The rain starts pouring, the team keeps going. Notice the thumbs up I got. :)

Being goofy! Being a defender (near the goalie) means he was told not to leave the area.

Curious George scores a goal!

random pictures

2009-10-20T08:42:00.002-04:00

As big as she has gotten (around 75th percentile for both height and weight), Thing 2 insists on putting herself in the smallest box she can find.

In the meantime, Thing 1 has perfected this "What the heck is wrong with you?" look.

This is Curious George's Lego collection. He has progressed "helping" daddy put them together, to putting some parts of it himself, to completely assembling them. Lately, he has taken them apart and make his very own designs. He has since bought a few more small once since this picture was taken. He is asking for big expensive ones for Christmas.

a trail of marshmallows

2009-09-26T19:15:00.004-04:00

Curious George is in our room doing some coloring activities and does not want to be disturbed. His sister, Thing 1, wants to be with him. I call Thing 1 out of the room, but she wants to stay. Curious George said, "Mommy, put marshmallow down and let her eat them on the floor and then shut the door when she gets outside." I glared at him, "your sister is not an animal!" Curious George looked up at me and laughed.

Devious.

EDIT: I think this whole idea of leaving food around started a year ago here.

Upward Soccer

2009-09-12T12:31:00.002-04:00

Curious George is back in soccer again. This time through Upward (upward.org), which is a christian sports program through the local church. The uniforms are much nicer than in the YMCA, and seems to be more organized.

Bright and early at 8:30 today, we were on a mad rush to get out of the house. In Curious George's group are 4 and 5 year olds. They practice for 30 minutes and play for the next 30 minutes. For the first time, Curious George learned about the different positions. He was a left full back on the first game and was told that he and another boy must stay around the goalie to help. He took the coach's instruction to heart and only kicked the ball when it came to him. :-) The coach told him a few times that he could move a little bit. On the next game, he got to be the center forward.

Pre-game drills.

Playing in the front.

The team tries to score!

Cheerleader Thing 1 refuses the camera.

Cheerleader Thing 2 adores the camera!

Thing 1 finally warmed up. :)

It must be said that I'm not the kind of mom who watches quietly. If you go to any game, you'll see and hear me yelling, "Go Matthew! Get the ball! Go go go! Good job!!" The kids need to be cheered and given positive phrase! Besides, at this age, kids are only as enthusiastic as their parents. :-)

It's too early yet, but I can say with certainty that I won't be a parent who will argue will referees.

hubby's family reunion

2009-09-07T15:34:00.003-04:00

My mother-in-law's family has an annual reunion near Cherokee, NC. This is the first time we've made it.

The kids and I bring 'color' to this family. :)

We enjoyed seeing some of the family members again, and some for the first time, though we were told that there were a lot of family members who didn't make it this year.

I anticipated that there may not be a lot for the kids to do, so Daddy and I packed the DVD player and blankets. Good thing too. It provided the kids with some rest and probably averted some meltdowns.

Curious George was pretty good. Though it helps that one of his cousins came with us.

By late afternoon, the twins had it. Thankfully, we found a recliner that happened to be in the kitchen. A few furious rocks adn the girls fell asleep. This show was after Thing 2 had already woken up and gone to find her Daddy.

update on the 3 silly ducklings

2009-09-04T23:38:00.002-04:00

Curious George:

He is going to pre-k 3 days a week in preparation for kindergarten. His mood continues to be dependent on the amount of sleep he gets. He is a Lego fiend at the moment asking for small Legos whenever we go to the store. For a period of 2 weeks, he kept a Lego catalog close to him at all times "reading" it whenever he finds a second and plans his future with it. "I want this for Christmas, and this one for my birthday, and the next Christmas..."

He continually amazes as with he says everyday. For instance, during past conversations I've told him that when we look for a new house it may have to be a house without stairs because Mommy's knees hurt. Then several days later, he told me out of the blue that it should be OK to have small stairs and that he, his sisters and Daddy would sleep upstairs and I stay downstairs so that I don't have to hurt my knees using the stairs.

Yesterday, Daddy and I attended a 5-week hr-long parenting class. Daddy and I were quite excited about what we learned and having an animated discussion about it. Curious George thought we were fighting and told us to stop. I explained that we weren't fighting, but instead discussing what we learned in class. He asked what we learned, so I told him it was all about what we could do so that we are not always yelling and getting mad at him. His response was, "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT ALL MY LIFE!!" Daddy and I burst out laughing.

THING 1:

Thing 1 is a sassy little thing who seems to be always at odds with me. Daddy says she's just like me...stubborn. I've said a few times that Thing 1 is Daddy's girl, but she does come to me when she's sick. ;p She is a rough and tumble girl, it seems. During a period of a couple of weeks when Thing 2 was sick, Thing 1 and Curious George played a lot with each other. Curious George throws his weight around and surprisingly, Thing 1 kept up with him. Even now, she and Curious George wrestles with each other. Thing 1 sometimes protests but usually all smiles and giggles.

Thing 1 has also developed a love for her big brother's shirt. She demands that whatever shirt she is wearing be taken off and then she grabs whatever shirt she could find of Curious George's. Sometimes she grabs a PJ he takes off as soon as he takes them off.

Her language explosion was a few weeks behind Thing 2's but they are both very good talkers. She loves to watch Dora The Explorer and Diego and eagerly responds when asked to join on their adventures.

We have noticed several months back that Thing 1 seems to favor left-handedness but it was too early to be sure then. Nowadays, it is becoming more obvious that she is left-handed. All of us have noticed a few instances where she tries to do something with her right hand only to find it very awkward so she just switches hands immediately.

Thing 2:

Thing 2 continues to be a few pounds behind Thing 1. She has been sick a lot this past month, battling strep throat for a few weeks. But after only being well for 1 week, she contracted the flu. It was a mild flu, but the body soreness she experienced for a few days was unmistakable. The illnesses caused her to lose about 5 lbs.

She talks very clearly and can tell on both her sister and big brother. She loves cuddles and would rather be on our lap when the other 2 are rough-housing.

She hates buildings that look like a doctor's office. We went to the Department of Social Services one day and she let go of my hand and headed for the parking lot as soon as she could see in after I opened the door. Thank goodness she didn't take off on a run!

She loves to ask for things using a very small cute voice. "Mom, can I have milk?", she asks in the morning. Recently, she's also mastered the art of begging. She asks for something and when I don't move fast enough, she holds her hands together and puts them under her chin, closing her eyes, and says "pease, pease! [please]"

She loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! If I can't think of anything to feed her, I could never go wrong with PBJ. She also loves any kind of cereal, much to her brother's annoyance. Curious George absolutely hates any kind of cereal and would run the opposite way from it.

Thing 2 loves to pretend to read. She grabs paper with print on it and "reads" proudly, "A, F, I, B!"

Christmas in July

2009-08-31T13:38:00.005-04:00

These are the photos from Santa's Land in Cherokee, NC. It's Christmas in July! The girls loved everything. Curious George loved everything..especially the part where he got to tell Santa that he wanted Lego for Christmas.

Thing 1 is wearing green and Thing 2 is wearing blue.

the bears' den at Cherokee

2009-08-30T16:21:00.004-04:00

This is a backtrack to the end of July on our trip to Cherokee, NC. It's an Indian reservation that is thriving and very busy during the summer months due to tourism. We found a "zoo" of bears and brought the kids there. It's not much of a zoo, but when we're talking about 4 and 2 year olds, it's just a perfect size. :)

The bears were doing tricks for food and the girls loved them!

Curious George's puncanny imitation of the bear in the entrance.

One of the bear poses for food.

Thing 1 (pink) and Thing 2 (green) love the bears!

There is an iguana cage that is covered with chicken wire. Unfortunately, little fingers still fit through. Thankfully, with Mommy and Daddy's super sonic speed, we were able to keep the iguana from having a finger lunch. Thing 1 wasn't too happy about being told "NO" of course.

A baby goat was walking around saying hi to the visitors. Thing 2 said, "How cute!"

Thing 2, Curious George and I pose for one more picture before heading out.

what does one do when you don't want to take a nap?

2009-08-30T16:02:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I drove Thing 1 to VA because she came down with a fever. Normally, I wouldn't get concerned but since Thing 2 and I were recovering from strep throat, and Daddy had just gone to the doctor and had a confirmed flu (thankfully not the swine flu), it wasn't looking too good her. We made the drive for an appointment the next day. Now why would we have to drive all the way back to VA just to see a doctor? Well, there's Medicaid for you. The children are not covered out of state unless it's an emergency.

On the way back to NC, Thing 1 refused to sleep even if she was obviously delirious with sleepiness. This is what I caught with my phone. It's hard to hear because of the wind noise and the radio, but she was singing along at times and arguing with me.

the Great Smoky Mountains and family

2009-07-28T13:35:00.005-04:00

We spent the weekend in the Great Smoky Mountains to attend my mother-in-law's family reunion. While there we explored the Cherokee Indian Reservation, which was busy with tourists. We stayed at the motel my MIL's father built. It is now on the 3rd owner after her father. It was my first time there, though I had seen it before. It was the kids' first time. Though the motel brought back a lot of fond memories for Daddy, he said it didn't hold the magic he remembered it having as a child. I think the big part of that magic is his grandparents. Grandparents are special like that. But I think it holds a different kind of magic, though - the kids and I being able to share part of Daddy's childhood.

Front of the motel.

Twin River's Lodge (originally known as Ela Motor Court)

Nana chasing after Thing 1.

Curious George went fishing in the back with his Papaw and cousin. This is one of the fish he caught.

Papaw helps Curious George.

The river in the back of the back of the motel.

Thing 1 (pink) and Thing 2 (green) enjoying the open space. They bust into 'Ring Around the Rosie' when Daddy pulled out the camera.

Thing 2 (laying down) and Thing 1 enjoying the kiddie pool.

Enjoying the big pool.
(Thing 2 in blue, Thing 1 in pink.)

fun in the sun with daddy

2009-07-22T15:20:00.002-04:00

Curious George found a firefly in the pool. He now knows more about the great outdoors than I do.

Having fun with Daddy.

Daddy embracing his inner child. We love that. We truly do!

potty training twins. how crazy is that?!

2009-07-22T14:29:00.006-04:00

Thing 2 on the left, Thing 1 on the right.

My girls will probably never forgive me when they discover that there are pictures on the internet of them sitting on the potty. Oh well. I say it's my right as a mother. You girls will have your turn when you have kids of your own.

These were taken in the middle of June when the potty training journey began. They hated sitting on it! Then I gave them 1 Mike&Ike and they didn't mind anymore. We had success the first time when we took them out and they stayed dry for 4 hours. I took the opportunity to sit them down and had a great success, but not before they shed some tears. Then it was good for a few days and then they absolutely hated it. So the training tapered off. Then stomach bug hit, and it was forgotten. We really need to "get back at it" but it's tiring! *whine* One of these days, we will. Eventually. Probably. You don't see teens walking around in diapers, do you?

big kids

2009-07-22T14:11:00.003-04:00

(Thing 1 on the left, Thing 2 on the right)

I forgot to post this one as part of the previous set. It shows how big the girls have gotten! They can definitely take Curious George on nowadays. In fact, they sometimes reduce him to tears...being in the prime of their terrible-twos and all. There is nothing like an out-of-nowhere-bang-on-the-head with a glass spice container by one of his sisters.

off to the doctor

2009-07-14T23:56:00.003-04:00

Thing 1 had a bout of vomiting for 3 hours straight at 3am last Sunday. Towards the end of the 3 hours, she had diarrhea. The diarrhea is just now ending, after 10 days. She vomited once a day, at about midnight when I just barely get to bed. About 2 days later, Thing 2 also had diarrhea. Let me tell you, it was nasty and stinky x2! But neither of them acted sick during the day however, so we weren't worried. But we did finally decide to take them to the doctor on Monday. Thing 2 was also due for her 2-yr well baby check. Of course the doctor is in VA, and we're here in NC. I wasn't brave enough to drive both of them by myself, so Daddy came with us.

The doctor was not concerned about the diarrhea since they are not acting sick and there is no sign of dehydration. He did however suggested we give them Tums because it was probably reflux that was causing the vomiting. As far as the diarrhea, it was going to take its course and just keep with with the fluid and food that are easy on the stomach.

Thing 2 has shot up on her growth. She weighed 31.4 lbs which is now at the 95th percentile and her height is in the 75th (I will insert height later). We aren't surprise because she out-eats Thing 1 and Curious George combined. We just don't know where she puts it because if you go by sight, you would think Thing 1 is a lot bigger (5 lbs at least) when in actuality, they are only less than 1 lb difference (Thing 1 is heavier).

frog ressurection?

2009-07-14T23:45:00.003-04:00

Two days ago, Curious George caught a baby frog. It was very small. He placed it in a spare tank we had. The problem is, we didn't know what to feed it since it was so small. This morning I told him that it was time to set it free because it was getting hungry, but before he does so, he could it play with it. Played with it, he did. After 15-20 minutes, Daddy told me that the frog is dead and that from what he could tell Curious George probably accidentally squeezed it.

I was worried that Curious George would get upset so I told him that it was dead and we needed to bury it. He then looked at me and said, "yeah! In 2 days, it was be alive again!"

"No, Matty. When an animal dies, it doesn't become alive again. It's dead forever, " I explained.

"No, Mommy. When God died, people buried him in a cave and two days after, God was alive again!"

If this is not proof that this boy pays attention in Sunday School, I don't know what is.

Oh, the memories we're making.

2009-07-09T21:21:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that we've been living here with Daddy's parents for four months. Four months is a long time, but at the same time we're left to wonder where the time has gone. It's been tough for all of us, but it is also hard not to count our blessings. The kids are enjoying their grandparents and there are a lot of lasting memories being made here everyday. The girls are too young to remember, but Curious George will probably remember some of the excitement. He will probably one day come to me and his Daddy telling us of his dream/memory of living with his Nana and Papaw and about catching frogs. We will tell him that no, it is in fact a memory...and we have this blog to prove it.

Curious George is sweaty after running around in the yard in this hot humid day. We catch a lot of fireflies here (an almost every night ritual).

Curious George shows his sisters the pint size wheel barrow, one he got for being well behaved after spending 5 hours with the grown ups at Home Depot and Lowes).

And teaches them how to use it.

Thing 2 comes up the hill after following Curious George. Thing 1 (wearing Curious George's Speed Racer shirt) doesn't follow too far down (she's too tired from vomiting for 3 hours the night before).

The kids help Daddy unload Papaw's truck.

It's all about team work.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-06T21:44:00.004-04:00

We found a fireworks that also has a kid festival so we took the kids there. The fireworks started at 9:45. It's late, but we knew they would enjoy it...and they did. Thing 1 screamed the entire time, we thought she'd lose her voice. In between the screams, she yelled, "again!"

Of course, being in a kid festival, the kids won't let you leave without getting them something. The swords were a big hit with all 3. The funny thing is, Daddy bought 1 sword for Curious George and 2 girly little light things for the girls. But the girls threw the girly things down on the ground and grabbed for the sword. So I made Daddy return them for swords.

Thing 2 snuggled into my lap to watch at the beginning of the evening.

We arrived at the kid festival at 8:15pm and the fireworks wasn't until 9:45pm. I lost count how many times Curious George asked, "how many minutes more?"

Unfortunately that evening at 3am, Thing 1 woke vomiting. She vomited every 20 minutes until 6am when she was finally able to rest. She got a stomach bug somewhere, and we're hoping it doesn't spread through the household.

stringing 3 words together?

2009-06-23T23:09:00.001-04:00

I think I read somewhere that at 24 months, most babies are stringing 2 words together, and some even doing 3. Tonight while I was getting the girls ready for bed, I couldn't locate Thing 1's PJ shirt. I asked them both to help me look. Thing 2 puts her hands on her cheeks and said, "Oh no!" Seconds later she found the shirt. "There it is! Here you go Mayee [Mommy]!" she told me. Stringing 3 words? Phooeee. We go straight to 7. I'm just sayin'.

the pool is now open!

2009-06-23T09:21:00.008-04:00

Nana's pool has been open for a couple of weeks and this is the girls' second time. With their swim vest and the ring, they have been quite comfortable floating around by themselves. Though it takes them time to warm up to that point. Before then, they grab onto Daddy or me for their dear lives.

Thing 2 is using the pink floaty and Thing 1 is on the green

After warming up to the pool, Thing 2 is quite comfortable to wander on by herself. She also is comfortable enough to swim to Daddy when she's sick of me.

The girls hitch a ride on the Mommy Tug Boat.

Thing 2 lodges a complaint when Curious George uses her leg as a floating noodle.

Thing 1 is especially clingy in the pool and screams when she is not allowed to grab onto my bathing suit or Daddy shirt. But when she gets comfortable, she is happy to grab some of the floating bugs.

Curious George and Cousin C have fun in the pool. With Curious George's swim vest, he requires very little supervision on the pool.

As is common with Curious George, he attaches himself like a leach to the nearest relative. Although it should be noted that he has equally attached himself to a boy at Nana's church. This boy (about 12 years old) should dare not disappear without letting Curious George know or his inner volcano will erupt without warning.

a major milestone for Curious George

2009-06-22T09:37:00.003-04:00

Curious George's current favorite book is his cousin's Lego catalog. He brings it with him everywhere and 'reads' it and plans his future with it. It is falling apart and some pages are no longer attached, so sometimes we all must hunt for the missing pages. He points to the Legos and says he wants this for Christmas, and that for next Christmas and that one for the Christmas after and this one for when Daddy gets a new job. We tell him they are expensive and the mini Legos for about $5 he says he can get because he has money in his money bag (a coin purse I gave him). Some of them are hard to find so when I saw one of the ones he wanted, I bought it for him. He built it himself immediately! He has many other Lego but his has always asked for helped from his Daddy. But this time, he only asked for help a couple of times - once because he couldn't manage to get something attached, and the other because he got ahead of himself and skipped a step while looking at the direction.

This is a 64-piece mini off-roader Lego that could be built into 2 more other things. In fact, he has already broken this one and made something else.

oh the faces she makes

2009-06-20T23:21:00.003-04:00

This is Thing 1 while we're eating at the mall while at home in VA. She made the exact same face that Thing 2 usually makes. She was just drinking her juice and made the silly face. I'd like to know what she's thinking about though.

Big feet

2009-06-18T23:27:00.001-04:00

Thing 1 and I are back at home in VA for her 2-yr old well baby check. She weighs in at 32.2 lbs and 34 3/4 inches tall. She is on the 75th percentile which is awesome! I can remember when she was barely at 30th percentile.

I took her to Stride Rite after since both her and Thing 2's shoes are getting harder to put on. Her current shoes is size 6 1/2. Today her feet measured in at 8 1/2! We are torturing her by stuffing her feet in shoes that are 2 whole sizes too small!

This is a cute one. And thankfully for me it comes in pink for Thing 2. The time will come when they will pick their own clothing style and shoes (in fact they are starting to do that now) but for now it'll drive me crazy for them not to have matching things.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

twin playtime

2009-06-17T09:25:00.003-04:00

The girls enjoy playing ring around the rosey ever since I taught it to them. They don't know the words, but as soon as anyone sings it, they hold hands and start going in a circle. Thing is though, Thing 1 doesn't want to fall!!

You can hear Daddy in the background giving a very concise description of our lives. :)

Here is Thing 2 lounging in her chair surrounded by books. She loves to look at the books and pretend to identify the letters. Sometimes she points at everything and says, "effffff!"

Here is Thing 1 showing us the proper way to lounge.