Friday, May 30, 2014

diva scientist

Here is a conversation I had with an eight year old girl when the girls and I were out and about today:

Girl: Your baby (Audrey) is looking at me mean!

Me: Yeah, she can be a bit serious.

Girl: I think she is going to be a scientist when she grows up. A diva scientist!

I should have asked her about predictions for Claire!



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

a day in the life- revisited

About a year ago, I  posted about a day in the life with twins. I thought it would be fun to revisit the topic.

7:00 am- I hear the girls stirring, but my cold has me feeling pretty exhausted. I decide to let them babble and grab another 30 minutes of sleep.

7:30 am- The girls are awake and are hangry. I tried to give them breakfast, but they want milk. They are so upset, that I even give them their sippies in their highchairs. I was afraid that they would end up throwing milk on the floor, but they were very nice and didn't bash the cups.

8:00 am- Justin is home from work. I tell him about our night and he shakes his head- it never fails, whenever he is home the girls wake up during night at least once.

8:30 am- Work on getting us all dressed and ready for they day. Sometimes I will let the girls loose in their room when I put on make-up, but they are a bit clingy, so I just do a truncated routine and put my make-up on in the kitchen.

9:00 am- Make our way to the grocery store. It is amazing how I can fit $50 worth of stuff in a tiny basket. What can I say, I have a gift.

10:00 am- Time for snacks! We all have a strawberry slushie. Reviews were mixed. I start prepping for lunch when they are occupied with their snack.




10:15- Play time! Today the girls were really into their cars and little people.

10:45- Time to start lunch. Today we enjoyed Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese with Prosciutto and Creme Fraiche.  (Disclosure- I subbed sour cream for the  creme fraiche... it wasn't available at the local grocery store, and I wasn't about to traipse across town to all of the specialty markets with toddlers in tow in hopes of finding it. Plus creme fraiche is really just sour cream with a higher fat content and fancier name).




True story, the girls have never had the mac and cheese with powdered sauce that most of us grew up on (in fact I keep some easy mac on hand for days when my work lunch options are limited). I'm sure I was offered homemade mac and cheese in my childhood, but I didn't start eating it on the regular until a few years ago.

11:45 am- Sippy cup time. I tidy up the kitchen while they are occupied.

12:00 pm- Nap time! I prep my side dish for supper tonight (it including chopping cilantro, jalapeno, green onions and mint). I finish up cleaning the kitchen and then catch up on property brothers on hgtv.

2:00 pm- Audrey is up. She is in a cuddly mood, so we hang out on the couch for a while and then go play.

3:00 pm- Claire is still asleep, so I send Audrey into their room to wake her. Audrey attempts to scale the crib- she wasn't successful, but give it a few more months. I take the girls outside to run around and swing.

3:45 pm- Back in the house. Justin wakes up and I start prepping the side dishes for supper. Alternated between tending to the girls and working on dinner.

4:30 pm- Justin tended to the grill, I chased after the girls. They tried to sneak out of the house every chance they got.

5:00 pm- Dinner is served. Grilled Thai Chicken with Fiery Noodles and Grilled Herb and Garlic Pork with San Fran Quinoa.

5:30 pm- Bath time! Audrey has a nasty diaper rash, so I load her up with diaper cream.

5:45 pm- Sippy cup time. I tidy up the kitchen while the girls work on their sippies.

6:00 pm- Time for bed and a story.

6:05 pm- Begin the nights clean-up... Make the bed, put away laundry I neglected yesterday, cleared the counters, washed dishes by hand, cleaned counters and stove, ran the dishwasher. Noticed registration renewal on the table, consider paying, but realize that I best finish cleaning up prior to sitting down.

6:25 pm- Put on my workout clothes and started my workout. Realized that tonight's video consisted of only squat thrusts and burpees... I am still feeling under the weather, so I decided that I best skip it.

6:30 pm- Workout abandoned, I but together a raspberry ginger fizz (muddled raspberries, mint, ginger, and ginger ale- it is delicious!). Begin blog post.

7:30 pm- Post is complete. Time to do my nails and relax the rest of the evening. There are some chocolate bars calling my name (because you know, I totally worked out and all).

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

weekend fun

Justin and I attended a friend's wedding over the weekend. It is hard to believe that this is only our second trip sans girls- I was speaking with my cousin and we decided that one kid free weekend a year should be mandatory. We stayed with another friend, and found ourselves having conversations about things that didn't include bowel movements and sippy cups... it was crazy! In fact the girls probably only were the topic of our conversation about 15% of the time, compared to most days when they make up about 90% of our discussion.

We had lots of fun going out to eat- I even tried sushi (well, a California roll, but progress), and we didn't have to tack on another 5% to the tip because of wayward cheerios! We don't go out to eat all that often, so it was fun trying new restaurants- in fact I had never been to any of the spots we ate at before. I usually make Justin go to Hell's Kitchen when we are in the area, but this time we were in the suburbs instead of downtown, so we skipped it. I would have had some angry men if I made them venture all the way downtown only to be met with an hour long wait.

Our friends are in the process of building a home, so we got to check out their lot and view their plans. I can't wait until it is finished- it will be beautiful. I get really excited about new homes and drove Justin crazy on our way back, spouting off all of the improvements I thought of. I think for the next couple of years our goal will be to keep the house clean (which is more of a feat than you might imagine) and then I can do some upgrades. Although I replaced our shower curtain liners today... it is embarrassing how long we had those bad boys!

Between the wedding and eating out multiple times in a day, I managed to sneak in a bit of shopping. I must say, I love, love, love that there is a Nordstrom Rack in Maple Grove. I picked up a pair of sperry's and j brand jeans (the most flattering jeans on the planet, I implore you to buy some immediately!). Anyway, it is nice to be able to just bop in and out of Maple Grove and not deal with the madness that is MOA. Between Maple Grove and Southdale, pretty much all of my shopping needs are met.

The girls stayed with my parents and had a blast- they did a lot of visiting, and even attended a retirement party. There were other kids there and the girls apparently didn't have a shy bone in their body- Audrey even stole a phone from one of the younger girls there.

The girls and I have both come down with a bit of a cold, so we've been taking it easy (they slept from 5:30 pm-8 am, with a snack at 5 am... it was glorious!). In fact I even threw in a load of laundry just now so I would stay up until a respectable time and not got to bed at 8:30. I don't go back to work until Thursday, so we've had a few outings. Today we went to Target and then to the mall play land. I love the indoor play ground- we are able to go right away in the morning when there are barely any other kids there, and they nap so well after they've had a chance to run off there energy. It was super sweet, the girls had been doing their own thing, when Audrey ran up to Claire and gave her a huge hug- such little sweethearts I have.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

15 months

Audrey and Claire continue to be busy as ever! We have their appointment on Friday, so we'll get their official stats then, but I'm guessing that Audrey weighs in around 30 pounds where Claire is probably 22 or so.

If you have seen my Facebook videos, you will have seen firsthand their love of clothes and books- they definitely enjoy helping put things away. Speaking of "helping", Justin texted me a picture while I was at work of about 10 bristle blocks that the girls had put in the garbage. Apparently they were trying to pick things up. I also need to be extremely cautious when I'm doing laundry these days- I've found shoes, books, sippy cups, you name it in their laundry bin.

The girls are both climbing on everything. Audrey took her first tumble off the coffee table, but that didn't seem to faze her. Claire is our little drama queen- she throws some hardcore tantrums (complete with her high pitched cry). When things don't go her way she will just throw her little body on the ground. Audrey has started a bit of tantrum-ing too, but hers are quite unique. She will lay face down on the ground, be completely silent, and not move a muscle. In fact I had to check on her to make sure she wasn't having some sort of weird medical event.

Now that the girls are older, they get a blanket, doll, and book in their cribs at night. I watched them on the monitor last night as they were settling in and it was hilarious- Claire was all cozy and tucked in when Audrey decided to toddle on over and throw her blanket, book, and doll into Claire's crib. She then decided to go lay down, and Claire woke up and decided to toss all of her belongings into Audrey's crib. This process was repeated about 5 times until they both settled in for the night.

We had a busy weekend- we stained the deck and got their swing set assembled. Claire hated the swing at first, but finally today she seemed to enjoy it. The swing set will be one of our best purchases for the girls- we should get many hours of entertainment from it.

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Sunday, May 4, 2014