no, I'm a copycat

Audrey repeats pretty much everything we say these days. She also refers to herself as a copycat as a term of endearment. I recently said "good morning dolly" and she corrected me with, "no I'm a copycat". Duly noted.

the most wonderful shopping time of the year

T minus 4 days until the Nordstrom anniversary sale! I am contemplating getting a Nordstrom card so I can have early access next year, but we will see. I would say that over the last year about 1/4th of my shopping dollars went to Nordstrom/the rack.

This is a great time to replenish essentials, like the natori feathers bra and  zella live-in leggings. During fall/winter I wear the leggings at least once per week, so it will be nice to have another pair.

These Sam Edelman beauties are on my list.

Due to issues with tendonitis I've had to retire my sky high heels, but these will be a nice compromise. About half of my recent shoe purchases have been Sam Edelman.

Next up is the Kendra Scott rayne necklace. I've been pining after this for at least a year, so provided it stays in stock I will pull the trigger.

If these are in stock in your size, but them. Let me live vicariously through you.

If you need more shopping ideas, this is always a great time to stock up on purses, boots, and denim.

fewer toys equals more fun (?)

I recently noticed that aside from their baby dolls, the girls hadn't really been engaging with their toys lately. Pinterest told me that they might have too many choices. I don't know about you, but I listen to Pinterest. So last night I started packing up their toys. I started with the ones with several pieces/are a bit too developmentally advanced. 

Then I tackled the duplicates. Do they really need 45 pieces of train track when only 8 pieces fit in the table? And do they need access to all of their duplos when their preferred form of play is just to dump them all out? I don't think they will even notice the difference. 

When they were under a year old (and all of their toys fit in one basket) I was really good about rotating them out. I'm not quite sure when I started slacking, but I'm ready to reclaim my floors.

I separated the toys that I'm storing into small boxes by type, and grouped them all in one large box. That way if one day they suddenly can't get enough of their trains, I can pull a few more pieces out. And if several months go by without pulling something out of storage, I can get rid of it.

Here is what the basement currently looks like. Keep in mind that every single bin and the fridge were overflowing before the great purge of 2015.

Another solution I like is to shop more (shocking, right?). Apparently the school of thought is that if you buy fewer items around the holidays you can space out new toys throughout the course of the year and always have something developmentally appropriate.

happy 4th

We are having a low-key celebration around here. I have a few craft projects up my sleeve and will share them if they don't end up as #pinterestfails.

Here are the girls in their festive outfits:

It's crazy how tall Audrey is! The dress looked like it was going to be a midi, but it is knee length. She is starting to wear 3t (where did my baby go?)

birthday fun

We celebrated Cameron's 2nd birthday and had a great time. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of the girls enjoying the festivities:

Audrey and the birthday boy:

The girls were afraid of the slip and slide at first, but ended up enjoying it. Justin remembered that we have one from college packed away in our attic, so one of these days he will get it out of storage.

I ended up ordering new swimsuits for the girls last weekend- these are theirs from last year and they are getting a bit snug. I probably could have made these work for the rest of the summer, but I'm hoping that the girls will enjoy the hotel pool when we are in Rapid City! And I think few things are grosser than putting on a damp swimsuit, so it will be nice to have another set.

claire conversations

This girl always has something to say- she is either talking or sleeping! A few recent gems:

Pointing to the ditch: "look mamma! There's the wicked witch!"

"She broke you, she cut your hair, hallelujah!"

"What's the Justin doing?"

Regarding any insect, "that's a ladybug"

Getting a little dirty playing outside "oh dear mommy, I so messy, I sticky!"

About our dog "Avery so stinky, Avery needs a bath!"

Trying to put off bedtime "No mommy! I still playing cuddle!" Or "cuddle a little bit!"

Not wanting to come inside, "no mommy! I still playing slide!"

Whenever she needs help, "help you mommy! Heellp you!"

And one of my recent favorites: "what papa doing?" Without waiting for an answer, "papa eating soup!" Then Audrey chimes in "papa doesn't like the soup!" (True story).

Audrey has quite a few words, but doesn't have the constant stream of one liners like Claire. She has told me some funny things, like "I don't like Sesame Street" and regarding her pacifier, "no mommy! I still using it!"

running

So I have taken up running again. Although my running is really more of a slow jog, but runners don't like to be accused of jogging, mmkay?

I have been feeling a bit disappointed with my pace (9.5-10 minute mile pace sans girls, 11-12 with the double jogger) but after a bit of reflection I realized that I hadn't even ran 1 mile last summer. Right now I am following a 10k training plan and can do 3 miles without stopping, so that is tangible progress.

I want to get faster, so I will need to put in more runs and add some speed work. I have never been particularly fast, I ran 6:30 miles in high school and 8:30 in recreational running in college (long story as to how I ended up taking that class, but that semester was pretty much the only time I exercised my entire collegiate career). If facebook is to be trusted, I ran a sub 8 minute mile in 2012. I actually remember that run well- it was at the local gym's track- with 9 laps to a mile... So the more likely story was that I counted wrong.

Anyway, I plan on running a 10k in October. My current goal is to have a sub 60 minute finish- I am sure I will develop secondary goals as my fitnes levels improve.

And because you really just come for the babies...