Dola da Playa

Yesterday was a BUSY day.  We started the morning at the zoo having breakfast with a certain little girl named Dora.  Very recently B&K have become obsessed with Dora the Explorer.  I mean, you want roughly 25 minutes of peace & quiet in the house put on Dora.  Kendyll loves, loves, loves her and calls her "Dola the Explorer".  Bennett loves Boots a bit more, but he still loves him some "Dora da Playa".    We weren't quite sure how B&K would take to real life Dora since they've never been around a character before.  But they LOVED her.  And told her so.  As soon as it was our turn for pictures Kendyll RAN to her full force and planted the biggest hug on her (this coming after another 2ish year old girl in front of us looked permanently traumatized by having her parents hold her screaming & crying next to Dora).  Bennett loved her, too, but was a bit more timid.  He gave her a high five and later a little hug too.  They both thanked Dora for the picture and told her they loved her.  Repeatedly. 




{The picture that the zoo took came out much better.  I haven't had a chance to scan it yet}.

We hung out at the zoo a bit longer and headed to the new Polar Bear Exhibit that we (read: Tim & I) had yet to visit.  B&K had a blast, saw both Polar and Brown Bear and then played on the playground (while running into our good friends Jarret & Jackson).










After a quick nap (and by that I mean less than a hour for B and pretty much nothing for K) we were off to a ND Alumni game watch at a local bar/restaurant.  We weren't too optimistic given there was almost zero nap and we had already had a full day, but B&K were surprisingly very, good.  And even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted (tough loss), the game was still a good one.  And the food & beverages were awesome. 
All I have to say is God bless the iPad!! {B&K watched "Up" while the adults were watching football}.




I am anticipating this week will go by quickly.  Tim left for Istanbul this morning and will be meeting me in Chicago for a fun weekend planned next week.  B&K are looking forward to a visit from Grandma, Grandpa & Uncle Mark.  Good times.

First day of School

B&K started their first day of preschool yesterday.  It went off without a hitch!  They were SUPER excited about it and walked right in.  No tears . . . I don't even think they noticed when Ashley & I left.  There were a few tears, however, when we went to pick them up.  But no worries -- they'll get to go again on Friday. 

{thanks to Ashley for most of these pictures . . . I looked like some snobby mom who took her nanny along AND asked her to take pictures.  LOL!  Oh and I realize there are none of Kendyll from the front . . . she was clearly too excited to stand still for a picture!}

Ta-Da!!

It has almost been a week -- I think it is now safe to say "Big Kid Rooms" have been a success.  Much like the room separation we feared would be a disaster ended up being a non-issue awesome win, the move to a twin (Kendyll) and full (Bennett) bed has been easy-peasy for B&K.  I think part of it is that we have massive bed rails on both beds. .  . in a lot of ways it is like they are still in a crib. :)  The other thing we've been doing this past week is getting them out of bed pretty soon after they wake up (which sort of sucks because wake-up time has been before 7am).  But {knock on wood} they have yet to get out of bed by themselves.  They go to bed at their normal time of 7:30 without a fuss and have been taking naps without a fuss or drama, too (they've napped 3+ hours for Ashley in big beds, but for some reason we haven't been so lucky this weekend).  We'll see how long this lasts. . .

Last Sunday while B&K were at my parents house we completed the big kid room conversion.  We ended up buying Kendyll a whole new bedroom set and her old crib and mattress was purchased by another family expecting a baby next year (I love me some Craigslist!).  Bennett's new crib (you may recall they are "new" because our old cribs were recalled last summer) became his headboard (we learned the hard way Delta doesn't make rails to attach both the head/foot boards and we couldn't find one as well.  Oh well).

So without further adieu, here are the new rooms!!

Bennett's Room













- Bedding from Pem America (All State Bedding)
- Decor items from Hobby Lobby (Hello 50% off sale!)


Kendyll's Room














Wall Decals won in a blog giveaway from A Few of My Favorite Things.  The etsy seller is lovemaestore.



Painting from etsy seller GalerieAnais.  I won this one off a blog giveaway on 3 under 3.




- Bedding is from Potter Barn Kids - Hayley
- Decor items from Hobby Lobby (wall shelf looks JUST like something sold at PBK for a lot more.  Thanks to my friend Jenn for scoring a 2nd one for me so B&K could each have one in their rooms!).
- Other wall decals from Target.  My most favorite store ever. 
- Furniture is from DFW Furniture Outlet

Grandma & Grandpa's house

I took B&K up to stay with my parents for a few days.  We drove up on Saturday and let me tell you -- B&K were UBER excited to go to Grandma & Grandpa's house.  They.had.a.BLAST! 

Saturday we visited with my dad's side of the family and my cousin Rachel brought over her two little boys.  Everyone had a super fun time playing.  Once the kids were in bed, I drove back home as the next day Tim & I had "Big Kid Room Make-over 2010" planned (more on that - including pictures - to come this weekend!).  Sunday the kids had fun going to church with my parents, visiting a park, hanging out with Uncle Mark and then going to a picnic at Aunt Anna Marie's house (I need to get them on video saying Aunt Anna Marie . . . it is a mouthful and super cute!). 

Speaking of AAM, she - along with her husband Jim -- happen to be favorites among our little people.  They scored this Step 2 play house at a Flea Market last weekend for TEN DOLLARS (!!!) and my aunt spent 3 hours cleaning it up for B&K.  Sounds like they played with it a TON while at G & G's house!   {Happy 10th Anniversary, Anna Marie & Jim!}  




On Monday they took a trip to the Akron zoo and I'm told they had a blast there, too.  The rest of their time was spent visiting workplaces of Grandma & AAM and just hanging out.  They can't wait to go back again!





With Uncle Michael & Aunt Mary






In other news, B&K visited their preschool classrooms and met their teachers yesterday.  (they will be going 2 days a week, so they have two different teachers and will be in two different rooms).  They seemed to like it and were talking about it still when I got home from work yesterday.  The only thing that makes me a bit (foolishly) nervous is that just about everyone we met at the kids open house and the parents orientation last night referred to them as "THE TWINS".  We've never really run into this before . . . most people refer to them as B&K (or their full names) and even our family doesn't call them the twins.  "The KIDS", yes, "TWINS", not so much.  But after the 3rd or 4th time of being asked who's parent I was and after saying "Bennett & Kendyll" the response was always "Oh! The twins!!" I'm just a wee bit concerned.  But I'm sure I'm being silly.

{Oh and for those of you wondering how I spent my "free" night this week while Tim & the kids were away . . . I'd love to say I had a spa night and a relaxing time, but honestly I ended up at a work function.  I cancelled my plans with a friend last minute to attend a big "Welcome Reception" for my company.  We were just acquired by a much, much, much larger company and I thought it might be best if I mingled with work peeps instead of enjoy the silence at my house.  Oh well.  But to answer the question I'm sure my friend Mary J will ask . .. I did have drinks. ;-) }

Duck Park

Last weekend Nana & Papa asked to keep B&K Friday night / Saturday day.  We never turn down an offer for a free night out. :)  They visited a new (to them) park on Saturday which had several amazing little toddler / playground areas -- including a splash park.  B&K must have had a good time because when I was home with them on Monday for the day all they talked about was going to "duck park" to find "Donald".  Cute.  Here are a few pictures Nana & Papa shared:










B&K will get to spend this coming weekend and a few days next week with Grandma & Grandpa.  We're looking forward to seeing some of my dad's family and I know B&K will have a blast!! {Tim is also traveling next week, which means I'll have a night in my house all.by.myself.  Eeep!!  I'm not sure what to do!?!?}

Who ARE these kids???

Ok, I will add a disclaimer here that nothing frustrates me more than the "mommy competition".  What is this, you may ask?  Well the "My Tommy is reading at a 4th grade level and he is only 2 1/2" and the "Oh yeah, well my Susie is speaking 7 languages at age 3".  You know that kind of stuff.  But I started this blog to document progress for B&K (because I'm too lazy to do their baby books) . . . so here goes -- a bit of a brag on my kids type of post: 

It is a bit amazing how B&K have developed recently.  They've been mini chatterboxes for a while now (well, they spoke some other language for a long time, but now we can finally understand bits and pieces).  But it is becoming very obvious that they remember stuff now. Like crazy remember things.  Good example . . . a few weeks ago we were over at Tim's parents house and the kids were in the back yard.  They were searching all over and we couldn't figure out what they were looking for.  So I asked, and their reply was: "where's the eggs, mama?".  And it took second for me to even remember, but what they were doing was looking for EASTER eggs -- we had an egg hunt in their backyard on Easter.  And they remembered it.  MONTHS later.  Freaky (basically because I had totally forgotten about it!).

Another example of their development -- yesterday as I got home from work I was doing the typical "download" with our nanny, Ashley.  Bennett came up to me and kept repeating "I go to Leslie's house" louder & louder until I stopped talking and said "B, no, we aren't going to Leslie's house" (Leslie is A's awesome friend who cuts B&K's hair . . . we love her, too!).  So Ashley then says "Yeah, B, we went to Leslie's house today".  He wasn't ASKING to go to Leslie's house but rather TELLING me what they did that day!!!  (normally I ask them every day what they did, but it usually consists of a bunch of random words that don't really explain anything).  :)  So I asked him "what did you do at Leslie's house" and he replied "I play with puppy".  I asked "what is the puppy's name" and he stopped for a second.  From the other room I hear Kendyll yell "Levi!!!!".  Then B chimes in "oh yeah, Levi.  Levi the puppy".   Who the hell are these kids??

The other big saying/question in our house these days is "what's that?".   About eleventy billion zillion times a day.  Sometimes we answer the question.  Sometime we throw it back at them (especially when we know they know what the answer is).  But yeah, that question is becoming a bit tiresome. 

B&K are also testing their boundaries with what they call Tim & me.  Some days I'm mommy.  "Mom" is a recent one, spouted mainly by Kendyll (like she is some 13yr old or something).  They also like "Daddy Tim" . .. they say that one a lot.  And a lot of times I'm just Sara (pronounce Sar-wa) . . . this morning as I left for work it was "bye-bye, Sar-wa!" as K let me out the door and shut it behind me (oh yeah, they are masters of getting in & out the back door -- unlocking the deadbolt & all.  Which is a good thing -- like when we are being lazy and don't want to let Tabasco in or out -- but it can also be a bad thing.  Thankfully we have our yard fenced, but still . . . ).    They also know their first & last names and will tell you that when prompted. 

So yeah, they are becoming baby geniuses.  Or maybe they are finally catching up to where they should be based on their prematurity (something I don't ever talk about because in my mind I never really bought into the preemie stuff).  In any event, it seems like a lot of progress in a short period of time.  And it really just makes us realize we have little people living in our house -- not babies. 

And because I can't have a post without pictures . . . here are a couple (crappy phone) pictures from last weekend.  God bless the Step 2 sand/water table (which is just a water table at our house . . . who has the time to clean up sandy messes?!?).

Check baby, check baby, 1, 2, 3, 4

Our pedi suggested that, since B&K have historically been tiny peanuts, we might want to bring them in for a weight check when they hit 2.5 years.  And since I had to drop off preschool paperwork earlier this week we figured we would "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" and bring B&K with us for their weight check when the forms were ready for pick up.

All sounds like a good plan, right? Yeah well, it used to be the office had "weight check" hours each day and you could just bring your child in, wait a few minutes, strip them down, get weighed and you were out the door.  Easy, peasy.  Apparently some time in the year or so since we've "dropped in" for a weight check our dr's office decided to start charging a fricken co-pay for this service.  Wonderful.  So we just paid $40 to have a nurse in our pedi's office do what we could do for free at home (as Tim politely put it).  Whatever.   All is cool and we left the office without any meltdowns (well, that is until Bennett had to give up the Veggie Tales book) and they gave us the normal percentile / weight / height form we get at an office visit.  Coolio.

So here goes (and I've updated the stats to the left over there, too):

Bennett:
Weight:  26lbs, 14 oz, 16th percentile (up from 23 lbs, 11oz, 6th at 2 years)
Height:  36.75 inches, 60th percentile (35.25 inches and 75th at 2 years)

Kendyll:
Weight:  26lbs, 13oz, 27th percentile (up from 23lbs, 13oz, 11th at 2 years)
Height:  35.75 inches, 50th percentile (33.75 inches, 49th at 2 years)