Icy Days

Of course today is in the 60's, but earlier this week we had some really cold weather and even some ice on the ground. Well one of the twins' favorite things to do is climb into the windowsills behind our big couch. They love looking out the window and playing with the blinds. On Wednesday ice drops had formed all over the screens and we even had a few icicles. The kids immediately noticed them and started calling out "bubbles" (we sometimes have a hard time distinguishing water drops and bubbles). Abby then climbed behind the couch and into the windowsill to stare out the window. At one point Jake was in the middle window looking out too, but I never could get a picture of the two of them. Jake would usually move before I took the picture. He later moved into the same windowsill as Abby, but she didn't like that. She pushed the couch out and he came tumbling out (right as I took the one picture of them both!).


Later that night the kids watched a movie (baby Einstein of course) and bundled up on their little couch with their blankets. Too cute!

A Little Boost

Okay, so my SIL's move to scratch the highchairs has pushed me in that same direction. I had gotten these boosters before Christmas but just hadn't put them on the chairs yet. Our goal was to get rid of the high chairs before they were two but I just wasn't sure I was ready to make that move yet. I didn't know if it would be a huge battle to keep them sitting in their chairs and not climbing all over the table (which they love to do!). Plus I sometimes used the chairs as time-outs when making meals for the kids b/c they loved to get into things during that time (strapping them into the chair was the only way I got food on the table some nights!). However I finally took the plunge.
I would love to get a kids table like so many do, but we simply do not have the room. I also didn't want to mess with actual booster seats that strap to the chair b/c that's essentially what we had with our high chairs and I was tired of cleaning them. So, I found these great new things called Kaboost. They fit to the bottom of the chair and simply raise it up so the kids are sitting at the right height for them. There's two heights and right now we're on the tallest setting. The Kaboost actually makes the chair more stable and it has big rubber feet so the kids can't pull the chairs out from the table on their own. Although they like to try.
They do really good in the chairs, especially Jake. He'll climb in the chair and turn around for you to put his bib on. Then he turns back to his food and starts eating. He would stay seated for the entire meal if Abby didn't show him he could do otherwise I think. She loves to stand or kneel while she eats (and so he copies her). That's fine, but occasionally she'll climb on the table and go get things off others plates. Totally not acceptable. She's had one fall after she did this b/c she didn't align her feet back on the chair when sliding off the table, but she was just fine and within 5 minutes she was climbing the table again. It's funny though she'll get onto Jake for climbing on the table and tell him no, but she usually does it first. And so far, no one has gotten up during meal time to run and play. I usually have to kick them out of the chair when they're done!

Our favorite afternoon activity - coloring! I usually let them color when they get up from their afternoon nap. Although we still like to eat colors, they're getting better. Jake's my more avid colorer, but he's quick and intense. He focuses on the paper and colors and does the job fast. Then he's off to doing something else. Abby however, colors very little, but will try to collect all the colors on the table (yes, including Jake's) and make one or two little marks on her paper just so she can say she's still coloring and sit at the table. They're also doing really good on learning to draw circles and lines although their circles are still crazy looking ovals.

Dinner time is now much more fun without the high chairs. They love sitting in the big person chairs with mommy at mealtime.

Mind Your P's & Q's

Language has really taken off with the twins the past several months. Abby has a ton of words and even a few 5 word sentences. The other morning I walked in to get them out of bed and before I made it over to her crib she said "Mommy, I want Daddy!". She always asks for Daddy in the morning, it's a special treat when he's home to help get the day started.
Jake is also really kicking things up a notch with language although he doesn't really put two words together yet. We're still working on that, but he'll try to say new stuff all the time and picks up a lot of words from his sis.
John and I have also had to start watching what we say. The other week Jake pulled all his books off his bookshelf and Abby immediately said "Oh gosh!". I quickly looked at her and she said it again. This is now her new favorite phrase. She repeats it over and over until the "uh-oh" is fixed. I'm really not sure where she picked that up though, John and I don't say that when something happens, but she picked it up from somewhere!

Happy 60th Anniversary!

January 19th is my husband's grandparents anniversary and this year they celebrated their 60th! Ten years ago we celebrated their 50th and had a big celebration, but this time around they wanted just immediate family. So my fabulous SIL graciously volunteered her house for the immediate family (which isn't so small!). She ordered a beautiful cake and had a ton of decorations at the house. I was in charge of the sugar free cake and asked to decorate that as well, but I couldn't find a bakery to make a sugar free cake so I had to make one from scratch. It turned out okay, but I can't decorate a cake to save my life so it's the small, quaint little cake off to the left of the fancy cake :-)

Everyone had a blast chatting and the kids had fun playing with everyone and the decorations. We also tried to capture some photos of Granny & Pappaw with all the great grandchildren, but that turned out to be quite a feet. Not only were the kids squirmy, but my camera was acting up and so a lot of my pics came out blurry. Well I shouldn't say all the kids were squirmy. Mine and my SIL's were, but Nikki & Krissa's were well behaved little people. They even stayed in place after all the pictures were taken until someone finally came by and noticed them sitting in the same spot. Lisa told them they could go play and so they hopped off the couch and ran to play! Oh I could only wish for kids that behaved that well!!!

I did manage to get a few pics of (most of) the kids with Pappaw. And yes, we did have spotters behind the kids on the couch (you can see Lisa in one of the pics with Abby).

Meal time! The kids loved this table. Although Alex & Austin sat in the middle and so all the other younger ones kept stealing food off their plates. Although they never complained or got mad at the others, you could tell they weren't happy about what was going on!

Abby had to check out the chairs and blinds. She also tried to open the back door, but luckily she's not smart enough to know the chair blocks the door!

Jake & Ethan loved the balloons!

Awe - a Thornell family pic!

When Winter Days are Sunny

Last week we were lucky enough to have some really nice weather so, we all played out in the backyard while we could. Friday was great too, but Abby had to stay inside and could only do "rainy day" activities. Here's a few pics from Wednesday. I didn't get my camera out Thursday, but we had just as much fun that day too. Don't forget you can click on the pics to enlarge them if you want.

The kids love their new roller coaster from Grammie. They've only been able to play on it a few times since we got for Christmas, but they love it! They always fought other kids for this thing at My Gym so now they have one of their own to play with. And it's more than just a roller...it's a ramp, a slide and it comes with an extra push toy! Jake loves to push things around the yard too. Now if he could only push a lawn mower we'd be in business!

(I love this shot of Jake, he was trying to push the car up on the patio, but it tipped over as he was pushing. He just fell over and started crying. We're so dramatic now.)

And more fun with our tricycle. We still can't reach the pedals yet, but they love pushing it and trying to ride on it by walking their feet.


Our backyard is beginning to look a little over-run with toys, but they love everything and bounce from thing to thing. Jake still holds the bat backwards when playing t-ball, but Abby's got it down.


Ahhh! They only get to play with their balls outside. We just don't have the space for a ball pit inside and it's actually worked out nicely in the crab outside. They're so cute, they love to stand on the claws and leap into the balls. Jake was really enjoying himself this day, even doing the backstroke in the balls.

They can't rest for a moment, even when getting a quick drink they have to be busy.

On the fast track to recovery

Thank you for all the extra prayers for Abby this week. She had her surgery Friday morning and everything went well. There was a little more to do than the doctor anticipated, but still nothing too big. Not much blood, no stitches and you really can't even tell anything was done. They checked us in and we all went back to the exam room. We just brought her in her comfy PJs so she didn't have to change into a gown or anything. After her vitals were checked (an ordeal in and of itself - I'm not sure why she was so freaked out by the oxygen monitor, but she was), we waited for the anesthesiologist. She came back right before the surgery and gave her some "goofy juice" through the nose. It was quick, but didn't knock her out, just made her more cooperative really. They then took her (and her babies - Mister Bear & Penguin) back to the OR. Once there, they actually put her to sleep with a gas mask and ran an IV (I was glad I didn't have to see them put her to sleep or put the IV in!). The whole thing took a few minutes then the doctor came and told us all was well.
I heard a little girl start crying in recovery and knew it was Abby. The doctor opened our door and there she was, sitting up in bed, chewing on Mister Bear's ear, crying. We went out to greet her and she wanted to immediately be held. We wheeled her back to her recovery station and the nurse said we could hold her in the rocker back there. She was really upset about the oxygen monitor on her tow again and had major tears. I'm sure she was confused and disoriented a bit which lead to the tears. The nurse brought her a popsicle (a first for Abby) and she gobbled it up. When it was all gone, we had a major melt down. The nurse felt so bad and quickly got her another popsicle. Nothing would calm that girl down, but as soon as she had her second popsicle in hand she was fine. Again, when that one was gone, the tears came running down her face again. I didn't want her to have any more, so we just worked through the crying.
We were quickly discharged and on our way. They showed us the exit (which was different than the entrance so we wouldn't scare the new patients arriving) and we were quickly on the road.
We got home just in time for lunch and she gobbled everything up (including Jake's leftovers). John ran to the pharmacy to get her pain meds and when he got back we gave her some and put them both down for their nap. I wasn't sure if she'd take one, but they both went down without a fuss really and slept till 4:30!
She stayed on pain meds all day Friday, but today she's been just fine. Not even a dose of motrin for that girl. You'd never know she had anything done yesterday. Looks like we're back to normal (although they took a long nap again today which I was happy about since they've been battling a cold).