It's Starting to Feel Like Christmas!

On Friday, my parents took us to see ICE! at Gaylord in Grapevine. So after my mom and I did a little shopping in the morning, we loaded the kids up, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to Gaylord. The hotel transformed an area into a wintry ice wonderland. There were bridges, gingerbread houses, even slides carved out of ice. It was really neat to see...and really cold! They keep the area at a chilly 9 degrees. We bundled up and my mom even brought the snow suit I had as a baby for Abby. However, it was a trek getting from the parking garage to the exhibit so by the time we made it to the exhibit, we had all shed our winter gear. The hotel also had their lobby area decorated with tons of winter scenes. We didn't even see half of that as we were trying to make our way back to ICE. If you manage to get away and see this, definitely make time to see all this stuff too. Very cool!

Here's some of the cool things they had at the front of the hotel. The kids loved the trains, and there was even a giant cow, just for Abby.

They had "ice" trees on the way to the exhibit. At first, the kids stopped and looked at each one. But they started running faster and faster between the trees and eventually only glanced at the trees as they ran by. As we were waiting to go in to the exhibit the kids found a neat train they could actually climb all over. Look closely at Abby, she's in the same snow suit I had as a kid. I'll have to try and find a picture of me in it to compare.

Here's a few of the ICE exhibits. Very neat! I love how they were able to color some of the ice too.

Thanksgiving Part 2

On Thanksgiving Day we had our second Thanksgiving (not bad really, just 2 this year). My family came over for lunch and we had a blast. Rob arrived first with Noah and Addy. The kids had fun playing together while I finished the turkey and stuffing.
(This house door is still a favorite)

My parents were coming down and bringing the desserts, while Whitney was in charge of bringing the salads. However, since Rob had the kids, Whitney slept in Thursday morning and got off to a late start. Then she decided she didn't want to take any toll roads and went some weird way. Needless to say, she got lost and was almost an hour late. The kids were getting hungry so they had to get a little snack.

Ahhh, finally, lunch is served.

After lunch everyone took a nap. Later that afternoon when we were all up, we changed the kids into their Christmas outfits and tried to get a few pics. Noah didn't really want to do pictures this year, so we only managed to get a few random pics, nothing with everyone. But everyone still looked cute.

After everyone left, the kids were still bouncing off the walls. My mom decided to turn some of the random foam tiles the kids had torn apart earlier in the day into cubes. Great idea! They were a hit. Jake filled his cube with all sorts of stuff and Abby wore hers as a hat for a while. They quickly discovered they could get in the cubes though and decided to give that a try. Although getting out of them was a little tougher than they thought.

Our first Thanksgiving - this year

Yesterday, my fabulous SIL hosted Thanksgiving at her house for our family. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed seeing the kids play together. I think the last time we all got together really was in July for the family reunion. We did see each other in August briefly for a quick photo session but that was it. The kids are starting to play well with each other now and it's fun to see their little personalities all coming out. Ethan was quite the attention seeker and loved to show off his wonderful talents to the entire room. Abby and Jake were all about using the time wisely to play with their cousins cars. They even showed Ethan and Paige how to climb on the roof of the cars to get to other areas of the room such as the TV stand (Jake even pondered trying to stand on the roof to reach the ceiling fan!). Paige would check in with everyone from time to time and remind Abby & Jake that the cars were actually hers and she could take them back at anytime. There were a few scuffles and I have to admit Abby lost the fight between her and Paige over one of the cars.
John's brother Brandon made a rare appearance and the kids all loved hanging out with him. Ethan would peak at him from behind the couch and Abby plopped right beside him on the couch, taking his keys at one point.
Everyone pitched in and brought food to share - we all ate way too much and loved every minute of it. We had planned on getting their early since all the kids nap after lunch now, but we ran into traffic and didn't get to Lisa's until 11. We also started the food a bit late and didn't have lunch until 1. However, all the kids did great and weren't cranky at all really. Our guys even lasted until almost 3 with no nap! I think Abby would have continued playing hard with Dallas if we hadn't left when we did. But as soon as we got in the car, heavy eyes were upon everyone.
Thanks for having us all over!!!
The boys!

Abby checking out her uncle Brandon.
Abby loves hanging out with her great Pappaw. She always finds a way to spend a little one on one time with him every time we get together. Too cute!
The girls disappeared at one point. When I checked in on them, they were both happily playing in the playroom.
We tried to get a family photo, but someone didn't want to stop playing.
Weeeee!
Ahhh...my fabulous SIL and her family.

A little independence

The twins are getting more independent these days and it's great! Most of the time, they will now go off and play a bit together (although sometimes it's not with their toys) while I clean up the kitchen or put dishes away. I can even finish getting dressed in the morning after they eat breakfast while they play (as long as I don't take more than 10 minutes or so). However, their new found independence isn't always a good thing. They love to play with things they aren't supposed to play with. Their new favorite thing is getting BEHIND the TV. They climb up on our TV unit, and sidestep behind the TV. Now only one can get behind the TV at a time, so the second usually sits on the cabinet next to the TV waiting his/her turn. Another big game of theirs is to sit on our end table (the one with the lamp built in to the table)/ They straddle the lamp and shake to their little hearts content. Abby has already knocked it over once shaking it so hard and to my surprise there were no serious injuries. The couch against the wall is another favorite. They climb up on the couch, shove all the cushions off and run, jump, and climb all over that thing. Abby has already launched Jake off the couch once (he was standing on the edge and she just came over and shoved him as hard as she could, launching him in mid-air), but again we were lucky and he somehow missed the coffee table. Still not sure how he missed it. We also can't break them of climbing on my big comfy chair to the kitchen cabinet so we just moved that chair out into the room for now until I'm ready to fight that battle. I have enough as is though so I'll save that one till I'm bored.

Painting the patio

This afternoon was gorgeous and so we played outside a bit. I finally remembered to drag out the sidewalk chalk I had in a back closet that I had gotten for Noah a long time ago too. The kids loved the sidewalk chalk! Yeah! Finally a hit with both of them (remember the finger paints didn't go over well with either, and Abby still hasn't completely learned to love play-doh).
We have sidewalk chalk at our church they get to play with sometimes, but they draw on a wall there, so I was a bit nervous that they'd start coloring the side of the house, but they didn't. Well, for the most part at least. They did draw on the door a bit. I had four colors so they each got two, but Abby was a bit greedy and wanted them all. At one point, she did manage to get three colors, but Jake quickly came to get his color back and that sent her into a fit of rage (I think she's getting more teeth b/c the past several days she's been really cranky - she'll just start crying for no reason!).

After they got the patio just right, they went in search of something else to color in our backyard. And they found it...the doghouse! Daddy will probably be upset (we're going to try and sell the doghouse), but it will all wash off and they had a blast coloring the outside and inside of the doghouse. They were making their own little hieroglyphics! Too cute!!!

Going, Going, Gone!

Well, on Friday we took the plunge and gave up the pacifier. It was a really tough thing for me and I knew it was going to be a tough one for the kids too. I had intended on waiting until they were 2, but a friend mentioned something happens between 2 and 3 and kids can't give it up between this time. I really didn't want to wait until 3, especially since the pedi noticed Jake's teeth moving around b/c of the paci at our 18 month visit, so we just went for it.
I cut the tips off all pacis at naptime on Friday and put them down. They were furious! They screamed for about 15 minutes and then surprisingly, fell asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought that really wasn't bad at all. Well, about 40 minutes later they woke up screaming (really Abby woke up screaming and then woke up Jake) and they continued to scream for another hour and a half until it was time to get up from naps.
I was dreading bedtime after this. Although this time, I completely took Abby's paci's out of the crib and cut all of Jake's paci's from his animals. They cried for about 15 minutes and then went to sleep. No issues last night except for one from Miss Abby around 3:30. She cried for about 10 minutes and then went back to sleep.
They did wake up a bit earlier than normal and cried some this morning, but I have a feeling we'll have that for a bit. I'm also guessing naptimes will be hard for some time. But hopefully, bedtimes will not be an issue. Cross your fingers!

Play-doh!

Last week the kids each got a small tub of Play-doh in a Halloween treat bag we got at the PAMOM parade so one afternoon I decided to take it out and see what they'd do with it. I rolled it out into little logs and let them at it. Abby was immediately grossed out and wouldn't touch it. She made the worst face and shivered every time she touched it. Jake love it and really enjoyed breaking it into little pieces.
I left the little containers out that the Play-doh came in and eventually Jake decided he'd like to put the Play-doh in the container, then take it out (over and over). This little game got Abby the tiniest bit interested in Play-doh. She decided to put hers in the tub and put the lid on it. She wouldn't get it out though, she didn't like squishing it at all and would cry when I would squish it in front of her.
Eventually though (when Jake went after both colors), she decided to give it a try. I really think she only played with it to keep Jake from having both colors, but hey, at least she gave it a try.
Jake loved the whole thing and the next day after naps, he saw the tubs sitting on the counter and wanted to go outside and play with them again. Abby joined in a bit more this time, but not for long. She was crying soon, grossed out by the whole thing. Although they both enjoyed licking the salty Play-doh.

Happy Halloween

John made it home around 6:30 so we dressed the kids up and headed out to let them go trick or treating for the first time. Jake immediately grabbed his pumpkin and headed for the door (they had been wondering why people kept ringing our door bell to get candy). Abby didn't want her pumpkin at first, but once we got outside she quickly decided it was necessary.
We walk up to the first house and ring the doorbell, although it was a while before we made it to the door as we had to inspect every halloween decoration along the way. When the lady answers, Jake just walks on in to their house. I quickly grab him and the lady puts candy in his pumpkin. He's a little confused, but okay, he got something in his pumpkin. Next house, we ring the doorbell and this time the kids get to pick up their own candy. He holds it a bit and I tell him to put it in his pumpkin, he does and we say thank you and leave. By the third or fourth house they had it down and Abby was saying thank you before people even opened their doors. We only went to the houses on our immediate block (maybe 7 houses), but I think it took us an hour or so just to do those houses.
We did have a little accident about half way through our trick or treat time. Jake was trying to run with his pumpkin to catch up to Abby and dad ahead, but tripped and fell. He fell hard and busted his lip. Tears were coming down fast, but our neighbor was right behind us and said come trick or treat and her house. She ran ahead and went inside to get the candy for the kids. Her daughter shut the door just as we got there and I heard her mother say open that back up for the twins! But her daughter wanted them to have the "full" experience by knocking on the door too. That all helped I guess, because the tears had stopped and Jake was ready to go to more houses.
By the end of our trip, Abby was getting tired and started to drag her pumpkin instead of carry it. We went back inside and headed to the kitchen for a quick drink. The kids immediately wanted to sit down and go through their loot in their pumpkins. I did let them eat a few fruit chews and then we had to take their pumpkins away. The little monsters were trying to eat suckers and tootsie rolls through the wrappers!
Ready to go!
This girl is on a mission.
Abby's dragging her pumpkin, tired from the walk and candy!
Hmmm, what do we have here? Tasty!

Halloween Party

Thursday night John's office had a halloween party for everyone. I dressed the kids up and headed up to his office with brownies in tow. John met me downstairs to help bring all the kids and goodies up to the office for the fun. As soon as we walked into his office, the kids squealed with delight. Balloons were EVERYWHERE! On the floor, on the ceiling, even taped to walls. Abby was in heaven! We let them play in the main lobby for a while, then went and dropped several things off in John's office so I didn't have to keep up with them during the evening. We headed back and the kids soon spotted all the food on the conference table. It was a rectangular table with sharp edges and came right about eye level, of course. Jake immediately dove in and tried to grab a handful of raw veggies, Abby even managed to eat a raw carrot. Who new, I figured it would be a while before they could gnaw on raw veggies.
Later, Jake discovered the brownies. Mmmmm, he convinced daddy to give him THREE throughout the night. I had to intervene and stop dad after the third one and said no more! The boy has never had a brownie and he doesn't need three this late in the evening. Give him something from the meat and cheese tray!!! Actually he won't eat the meat, just the cheese, but that's okay. Abby won't eat the cheese, just the meat so they make a perfect pair.
Later we played a few games. There was a ball toss, pin the nose on the pumpkin (which Abby won in her age group!) and a decorating contest. The guys were all supposed to decorate their office windows this week and we judged them at the party. Mr. Scrooge never decorated his and was the ONLY one who didn't. Donna, the glue that holds the office together, felt sorry for him and quickly decorated it Thursday during work before we all arrived. Go Donna!
We all had fun at the office party and the kids got a great gift bag for attending. We ate way to much junk food and the kids were so wound up when we got home.

Abby would collect about 6 balloons and then give them to people (all 6 to the same person). Then she'd turn around and start collecting more balloons.
Abby spotted dad on the other side of this window and was trying to get his attention.

Jake loved the ball toss game. If the balls didn't come out of the bottom though, he'd climb up on the box to get them.

Jake with his second brownie.