She's crafty

I am by no means a creative person. And I'm not super crafty, at least compared to some of the other bloggers I follow. But every once & a while I get inspired to get my craft on (remember the b-day invites I made for B&K?). I also like to be organized. So a couple of months ago I got the bug to make my own little craft space. I had supplies all over the house in spare closets and tubs in the basement and I wanted to find a spot where I could keep it all, work on projects and keep them out if I needed to. So I scoured Craigslist, found the perfect sized desk for $7 (!!!), repainted it and gave it some new knobs. I found the perfect little chair to go with it on CL, too.

The first little project I worked on in the space was a gift for a Multiples Moms Random Act of Kindness exchange I was part of. Through total luck, I actually drew someone I have come to know personally over the past year. She is getting ready to sell in her first Twins Sale later this week (more to come on that soon), so I made her a little tote bag she can use to shop and carry her selling supplies in. I was very pleased with how it came out (we were on a strict gift budget and I don't have a sewing machine so it wasn't perfect, but I don't think it turned out too bad).

And now that we're into fall (and soon to be winter) I've taken up my knitting projects. Well, when I say projects they have pretty much only included scarves up to this point. But I was very impressed and inspired by fellow twin mommy Jennifer. She recently posted this pattern on her site and blogged about making hats for her girls. I thought the pumpkin one was adorable. So I bought some new supplies and after a couple of failed attempts I mastered knitting in the round, adding in another color and following a pattern! I am super duper proud of myself! I think I am going to gift this one to a special someone and make a bigger one for K for Halloween.

Oh the places . . .

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Which is good because October is gearing up to be very, very busy.

Here are a few pics from the past week. B&K have taken to playing in (and with) some pretty unique places. Like . . .

Under our desk in the kitchen (playing with Tabasco's toys):

In the front door, playing with leaves that have blown in (and Bennett's foot):

And in Tabasco's toy box:

Yay B & K!!!!

Just a quick update on developmental things. Bennett is pulling himself to stand like a champ. All by his big self. With shoes or without shoes. And he is SO super proud when he does it (as are we!!). :)

And Kendyll has become quite wordful all of a sudden. Besides the "duck" incident mentioned from last weekend, we also hear a clear: milk, more, no, cracker, mama, daddy, dog, cat, book and car. And I swear she repeats stuff, too. She also likes to sing dabba dabba and e-eye-e-eye-o. Plus she & B talk in their own foreign language and they must be quite hilarious because they are always laughing at themselves.

And here are a few pictures from last weekend. Our favorite pastime on Sunday mornings is to read the paper. Well, actually only Tim reads the whole paper . . . I like to browse the ads and B&K help.

Favorite Things

My online friend - and fellow twin mama - Danielle has started up a new kick ass blog. I've added a button for it to the right, or you can check it out here. It is all about her favorite things and she has been doing a few AWESOME giveaways since going live (yours truly has even scored an awesome prize!!). You will especially want to check it out today because you might just recognize a couple of cuties. :) (especially funny is a never before seen photo of B&K in their "1" shirts as I attempted to snap a super cute pic of them for their b-day thank you cards. Yeah, epic fail! But a funny pic nonetheless). Be sure to bookmark the site and enter some giveaways -- she seriously has some wicked awesome recommendations!!

Family Affair

B & K & I met up with my mom, her twin sister (Aunt Anna Marie), their younger sister (Aunt Regina) and older brother (Uncle Michael) yesterday morning for breakfast. Aunt Regina was in town visiting from Georgia and the sisters decided to plan a last minute girls weekend. Uncle Michael and Aunt Mary were in town for a birthday party. So it seemed like a perfect opportunity for a little family reunion. It was so great to see everyone and we hope Aunt Regina had a safe trip home today!

L to R - Aunt Marie, Uncle Michael, Aunt Regina, Grandma Angie (holding B) and Aunt Anna Marie (holding K)



B&K looking at the ducks. This was after K was pointing and saying "duck" over & over & over again (when we didn't see them at first). Yeah, more to come on Kendyll's verbal explosion soon.

At our wits end . . .

Oh Tabasco. What are we going to do with you. Yes you are our first (and we planned would be only) child. And we realize, just as our lives were turned upside down when these 2 little creatures were brought home, yours was rocked even more. You have been such a tolerable dog these past 4 + years. You are now a bigger attraction than our "freak show" (even when we roll in the choo choo wagon) -- everyone wants to come pet the dog, hug the dog, love on the dog. But dog, let us tell you -- you are on a VERY short leash right now. I don't care what Jodi & Nick have told you (b/c they want to steal you from us) -- I don't know how much more of this bad behavior we can take!

He has always had interesting quirks. Like eating the entire roll of toilet paper (including the cardboard roll). And eating grass to the point it gives him seizures. But lately, I have no freaking clue what has gotten into this effing dog. He has taken to breaking out the back gate so we're back to really, really locking it. He is eating things off the counter. And the worst . . . The other night we had the door to our screen porch open to let in the fresh air. He went out and the next thing we knew he was going bat-shit crazy and then he was gone. Yep, he broke through the screen part in one area of the porch to go after whatever (squirrel, rabbit, cat?) that was bugging him. That is Tim's "fix it" project this weekend. But yesterday I had totally forgotten about the incident and was about to take B&K out the porch to play while we waited for Tim to get home from work. I open the door and the next thing I know there is a freaken bird flying towards me. Yep, our first visitor on the patio - - a Robin. Thankfully Tim shooed him out the door when he got home.

So any dog advice? He is about 2 seconds away from going back to Papa bootcamp. Or worse yet -- Tim is threatening to take him back to the pound (we rescued him from a shelter 4 years ago). Ugh.

And just because we need some cuteness to this downer, here are some pics from A . . . she took B&K to the zoo today with little A too.

19 Mo Old & Stuff

Happy 19 Months to B&K!! The weather this weekend was beautiful and we met up with Nana Debbie & Papa Sam today to do lunch. Fun times. Here are a couple pics from our outing.

you may notice that I've gone through a bit of a makeover. I decided to go darker with my hair for the fall and I LOVE IT. You can also see that I have a good 20 lbs I still need to lose. Ugh.

We also want to wish Grandma Angie, Grandpa Mike, Nana Debbie & Papa Sam a very happy Grandparents Day! I'm not normally a fan of "Hallmark holidays", but I think this one is pretty cool. :)

Random Pics

It was rainy here on Labor Day and while we waited for the rain to stop (so we could go to the Arts Festival by our house) B&K & Tim vegged and watched a little "Incredibles".

Bennett looking cute.

Kendyll likes to do "shots" from her blocks. So fricken funny!

Go Irish (at a Buckeye Tailgate)!!!

The weather was gorgeous so we decided to take B&K down to their first Ohio State Buckeye tailgate on Saturday. Our friends Tim & Adrienne do up a MASSIVE OSU tailgate party every home game weekend and it is in a great, very child-friendly area. Of course, the ND Irish also played their first game of the season and since we're more Irish fans than OSU fans, we went down to the tailgate dressed in our best blue, green and gold (sorry Dad & Aunt Kathy). We actually sort of fit in because Ohio State was playing Navy and our ND gear sort of looked like Navy gear from afar (and because some Buckeye fans can be real dicks, the news peeps were warning fans to "be respectful to Navy" this week, so we weren't harassed too much). Ha!

We had a lovely time and only stayed down until the game started -- it was B&K's naptime and we were able to watch the Ohio State game and ND game at home. Fun, fun times (woo-hoo for the great Irish victory. And we can't wait for the USC / OSU game next weekend . . . should be a wicked fun time!).

Now for some pics . . .

Kendyll pointing to the nice beer stain on our jogging stroller. Tim had poured me a beer shortly after we arrived and I was unloading the stroller so I put it in the cupholder. As I was taking the last kid out of the stroller I had completely forgot that I had my diaper bag hanging from it, so the thing tipped back and in the process my entire beer dumped into the diaper bag and all over the stroller. So yeah, B&K ate a few beer soaked snacks (don't judge!) and after a good run in the washer my diaper bag STILL smells like stale beer. Hmmm, I may be in the market for a new bag (don't tell Tim!).

Cute pic of me & B that Jodi snapped.

They also partook in some typical tailgate fun . . . like tossing (or eating) the football):

And a little cornhole (they freaken LOVED climbing up this thing!):

All in all a very fun day!

New 'do

Work has been crazy lately -- for me & Tim. Sorry for the lack of updates. Hopefully things will calm down after the holiday. A few quick updates:

- Tim made it back safely from Istanbul baring gifts for everyone. I scored a beautiful (real) pashmina for the fall and Garrett's popcorn from O'Hare airport. YUM!!!

- B&K's visit at Grandma & Grandpa's was cut a bit short b/c K had a weird reaction to some marshmallow AND is cutting her sharp pointy teeth. Thankfully she is starting to feel better. G & G came and stayed here for a few days instead and it was nice to hang with them. B&K had a super fun time hanging with Uncle Mark while they were in L-town, too.

- Our new nanny started yesterday and she is wonderful! B&K had a super fun time today with her and her 21 mo old daughter -- fun times!

- Bennett got a new haircut on Saturday just before Tim came home. He looks so different. (he is watching a crack DVD here):

And here is one of K before she started feeling bad. Reminds me of the SNL saying "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose". Gotta love her sense of style, too (she picked out the bow herself).