Evan is a SENIOR!

Ack!! They grow up SO fast. He was my first "baby." He came into my life at 8 years old. I need to scan some "Way back When" pics so you can see just how precious and little my "boy" was.

Now.

A man child. On the eve of his senior year in high school. He has grown and changed so much this summer.

And truly a very, very handsome man.

3 year old TERRORS!

Ohmygosh!!! They're drivin' me INSANE!!!

10:40am - Austin poops in his underwear. Again. We're going back to pull-ups today!

11:10am - Logan runs over to me and pee's in his pants. I think he is trying to deflect the attention away from Austin who has been loose privileges lately due to pee'in and poopin' in his pants.

11:36pm - The DVD player is left open. High School Musical is not to be found. Dvd player will not shut. "Logan, did you shove High School Musical in the DVD player?" Yes, Momma and I broke it.

11:45am - Austin dumps a whole container of wipes in the toilet and clogs the livin' dickins out of it!!

12:10pm - I discover large plant in the living room has been shredded to pieces!

12:40am - Logan gets mad at me and in his normal temper tantrum throwing ways, shoves the coffee container off the counter and coffee grinds end up all over my kitchen floor!

12:45 pm - as I'm yelling at the kids, Austin shouts: "NO, Mommy. Stop. Being. Grumpy!! Do I need to sing you the grumpy song?"

And doesn't wait for answer: "If you want to be a grump, that's okay...but could you be a grump a little further away...."

Pics by Deb!

My friend, Tracey and I had the privilege of having a fellow twin Mommy, Deb come over and take pictures of our precious 3, um, slightly wild boys for an awesome fundraiser she's doing this month. If you live in Richmond, RUN! don't walk, on over to Deb's site and contact her for your very own photo shoot! http://www.picturesbydeb.blogspot.com/

Action shot!

All toesies!

SO much love between the three!!

Austin

Logan

Peek-a-boo, Logan!

Peek-a-boo, Austin!

Vamanos! Let's go!

awww.....

aww......

This is classic Austin! He is zooming down the driveway (yes, sans hlemet and shoes!) and screaming like he's on a roller coaster!

Thank you, so much Deb!! These pictures are priceless!! And I still have so many favorites that I didn't post! lol

The Things We Do...

I have a long list I've been keeping of all the things Austin and Logan do and some of our games that we play every day. Life is getting so busy and so hectic, I can't keep up with it and I don't want to forget it all! So, here goes....

Three and autonoME - you guys have nailed this phase!

We all know by now - you dress yourselves. Every day. You're very opinionated about what you wear and you have very specific reasons for wearing it.

You're VERY opinionated and VERY stubborn if it's any way BUT your way. When angry - Logan immediately takes action and throws any object near him, or simply whacks the object of his anger: Austin, Mommy, Daddy, Nonnie.

Time out doesn't work anymore. We have now "graduated" to being sent to your rooms.

But your quest for independence and entrance into the Big Boy world has it's pro's too.

Cuz - you guys like to do everything by yourselves! Like -

Cooking! You make cookies and brownies all the time. You make your own scrambled eggs (including cracking the eggs, mixing 'em with milk, adding S & P, pouring it into the pan and then gently stirring them with the wooden spatula and then repeating all the steps for the next twin). This has never been captured on film and probably never will be for very obvious reasons - Mommy is very, very busy during the cooking portions of our day!

You must mix your own mac and cheese bowls with Nonnie and you must be in charge of the microwave - opening and shutting the door, hitting all the buttons. Same goes with popcorn.

If you get up early enough to "catch" Mommy making coffee, you insist on making it for her - you get the coffee out, you get the measurer out, then measure out the coffee, Mommy helps you pour the water and then you push the buttons. What smart cookies you are!

You help Daddy do yardwork - you rake, you pick up Chubby's presents. You guys handle most of our recycling. You help Mommy bring in the groceries. You help with the laundry.

Yes, we have many ways of implementing the 'MY DO!" phase of your toddlerness!

~~~~~~

Mommy and Me:

Somewhere along the way, when you get belly aches - Mommy starting giving the tummies a stern talking to. "Listen up, belly. This is Momma. And I said stop hurting my little baby right. this. minute. Mommy says, "ah, ah, ah, belly" no hurt my baby." And I repeat it as often as necessary while the belly is hurting.

We also have our little made up spider game. I used to play the role of both Mommy spider and baby spider. But the baby spider role is now played by either Austin and Logan. I use two fingers and Yellow-book style start walking around the table/chair/bed and saying, "Where's my baby spider? Where's my baby spider?" Baby spider is always hanging out atop one of the twins heads. Baby spider jumps up and down and responds, "Up here, Momma. Here I am!" To which Momma exclaims in frantic excitement "I need a bridge, I need a bridge!" And Austin and/or Logan shoots out a leg or an arm and makes a bridge for the Mommy spider to climb to her baby (some tickling inadvertently always happens on the climb up the bridge). When Mommy spider reaches the top, she jumps up and down "Hi, baby spider" "Hi, Mommy spider" "Hey Baby spider, lets run around Austin/Logan and have some fun" "Okay" And Mommy spider (and baby spider) run ALL around Austin/Logan and LOTS and LOTS of tickling ensues!!

Mommy's hair clip: Neither one of you likes Mommy's hair clip. And despite Mommy's many yelps, you both pull it out constantly. Rip it out. It hurts. Logan likes to jump on Mommy's back at every given chance. This means there's a good chance my hair clip will hit/scrape your belly or your chin. So, the hair clip must be removed (forcibly and without notice) before pouncing on Mommy. Austin has a smoother move. He reaches up to hug me. Wraps his arms around my neck. Then, reaches up and (forcibly and without notice) rips my hair clip out. "Yeowwowwww! Austin, why do you do that?" To see your pretty hair, Mommy. I don't like it not on your face." oh.

Hot poo-poo. Anyone? It's what they call diarrhea - it burns. Hot stuff burns. Hot poo-poo. oww-eee.

When we go over bridges (and hit all the ridges in the roads), we giggle and laugh and scream and say "Cars are going under our butts, ha ha ha ha ha !!"

Cute stories:

On their homecoming day, I was telling them all about how we finally got to bring them home, etc and they partake in the telling of the story now. So, Austin says "...and you were soooooooo happy, Momma!" and in an effort to make sure they knew that they were happy and well-cared for before coming home, I asked, "And what were you doing before Mommy and Daddy came to get you?" Austin's response, "Um....we was in a box." A box? You were in a box? "Yes, we were just sitting there waiting in a box." Now, on the lighter side, I think this is such a creative and adorable answer. On the more serious side, I reminded him of his loving foster family and all the fun things he and his brother did in Guatemala. Now, where the box came from? Who knows!

Unfortunately, we do not live on a cul-de-sac. We do, however, live on a street with lots of kids and lots of outside playing. So early on, we taught the boys to "run like crazy" to the side of the road and sit when we yell "Car!!"
This has worked great and has never been questioned until recently, when along with everything else "Why?" was the response I got instead of the hauling ass to the curb I was expecting. After the offending twin got out of time out, I reiterated the rules and when he asked "Why" this time, I was able to respond much calmer, "Because honey, if you don't get out of the road, the car will squoosh you. You don't want to get squoosh'd do you?"

Channeling Nonnie's inner eye-tal-yon (Italian), he responded, "Momma? The carz-a-gonna- squoosh me liyka-apotatoe?"

"What? Uh, yes baby. The car will squoosh you like a potato. So please get out of the road, okay?"

~~~~~

I think I posted this before. After 1 year of co-sleeping and another year getting up and down with the boys all night long, they finally started going to bed by themselves, all night long (thanks to big boy scooters and stickers!) So, I was surprised one night when Logan said, "Momma, lay down my pillow, please." No, honey. You're a big boy now, You can go nite-nite all by yourself. "But, Mommy, I need a family on my pillow." Me, thinking: awww that's sooo cute, but saying "Well, you have your brother. Austin is right here beside you baby, okay? Give Mommy a kiss." Logan pats his empty pillow, looks all doe-eyed and says "But. Mom. YOU make my family." slight pause. I wipe away a little tear and say, "Scoot over, baby."

We're always playing characters. Mom you be Tasha, I be Pablo. Mom, you be Sean and Ryan's Mom and we'll be Sean and Ryan, okay? And then they tell me what I'm supposed to say and do. Sometimes they get a little bossy. lol

Most of their words, they're saying correctly now, but my favorites that they're still saying:

pen-nan-ya (pinata), yo-grit (yogurt), ice-scream

The other morning, Austin told me his fingers were all squish-a-ly. Squish-a-ly? "Yes, momma sometimes at night when I go to sleep, my fingers get all squish-a-ly." He was wiggling his fingers around when he was saying it and I think he was trying to tell me that his fingers had "fallen asleep." lol

One night at dinner, Austin and Logan were singing their ABC's, "a, b, c, d, e, f, mur, gum, heche..." and a bunch of other jumbled sounds - BUT they were singing them in UNISON. Gary and I laughed and asked, "Now where did you learn THOSE abc's?" The answer, "In Guatemala." Parents exchange confused incredulous expressions!

When taking the kids to Vacation Bible School, Nonnie excitedly asked the twins, "Do you know who's gonna be there?" The surprise answer was gonna be "their best buddy, Van." But the twins surprised Nonnie when they jumped up and down and said, "Jesus!!"

And for those of you who stuck around for pictures, here are some clips of their new do's compliments of their brother, Evan:

Yes - mini-mohawks!

More fashion Do's and Don'ts

Okay, fine...mostly "don'ts," but they're at least trying!

Wow - great job, Logan on matching the reds! We hardly noticed the stretched out collar from (one of) your favorite "Logan" shirts. You can't even tell you're wearing your size 18 month basketball shorts - many women would be extremely jealous of your small waist. I would, however make one tiny suggestion that you at least allow Mom 5 seconds to readjust your pants - even though I'm super proud of you going pee-pee all by yourself! Now the "cough, cough, ahem" um, basketball shoes really, really do work better on the correct foot. Even though, once again High 5 for getting them on yourself!

Same outing, Austin too, "surprise, surprise" dressed as a basketball player as well!Overall, Austin - great job! Many kudos! And yes, Mommy did instate the whole socks must be worn rule after all - critters were starting to grow inside of the shoes and the stink alone in your closet was drawing attention from the local health officials. Notice, how Austin, too is learning to bring the colors of his shirt into his socks. And all those nay-sayers who said camouflage was limited in its fashion depth!

Ah yes, the toe ring....

Logan, you are the only 3 year old I know who is fashion forward enough to not only assesorize with a toe ring like Mom, but you've gone and super-sized it! Not to mention that kick-butt cool clickity-clack sound it makes when you walk around the house!

Little sidebar: last week was Vacation Bible School (in the evenings). The boys sleep a-la-underwear only, so after nap, we (Nonnie, Daddy or me) had the opportunity to get the twins dressed while they were still in a daze. And we succeeded, everytime! For about 5 minutes. Because then, sure enough, one would say "no - I wanna wear my basketball shirt...I wanna wear these shorts." And then the other one would follow suit...and we ended up with these outfits instead.

Vacation Bible School - outfit number 1:

Sleeveless tank basketball shirt paired with fleece (!) camo pants, boots (um, basketball shoes), maybe socks - not sure.Austin decided red flip flops were a better choice over boots, um basketball shoes.

Vacation Bible School outfits number 2:

Not bad, really. But you can't quite see that Austin's green shorts have lime green surfboards on the side that have nothing to do with his grey shirt not to mention the mis-matching of themes (surf and sports!). And again, Austin - Mommy appreciates you wearing the socks. It's just, well...okay, fine - the light blue background and the green frogs...well, it's just all a lot to take in.

And Logan......Mommy really wishes you would retire this particular "Logan" shirt. It's really seen it's last days, honey.

But, alas...Mommy does win some days!

Like when it came time to visit their new baby cousin, Sam!

And for church - although Mommy had two really cute shirts she wanted to showcase underneath - a Monkey See and a Monkey Do (I know, could you just dieeeeeeeeeee!). But....Austin insisted that "all the way buttoned up" is the only way to wear a Hawain shirt.

Got Monsters?

I am not as "straight-forward" (read: simple-minded) as the hubby is. His response to "I'm scared of the monsters..." is "There are NO monsters." Said. Done. End of discussion.

But when it's my turn to bathe and put down to bed and all I hear is "...monsters, monsters, monsters, blah, blah, blah," I take a more "solve-the-problem" style of approach. In the past, I've had "Magic Monster Be Gone Spray" = Febreeze covered in sparkly decorated paper and stickers and as I sprayed, I'ld chant "Monsters be gone, magic, magic everywhere, no more monsters" in my best authoritative commandeering magic voice (while freshing up a bit before nighty-night- how convenient!).

One night while getting the boys dressed for bed, Austin and Logan were still going on about "No monsters in the room, Mommy..." when one of them, um, rather loudly, passed a little gas. Ever -the-quick-thinking-utilizing-all-tools-available-to-me-kinda gal that I am, I proclaimed "Monsters are afraid of farts!" Ergo, with 5 males around and one aging dog, we surely, clearly have the most monster free house on the block!

After a loud fart, I'll shout - "Look - there goes that monster, out the front door and out of the house!" Always met with a round of laughter. There has been some concern that the monsters have invaded our friends and neighbors home, but I've assured Austin and Logan that they have fart-dwelling inhabitants as well. I think this may have even been investigated verbally in one or two inappropriate-outside-of-the home-conversations, but I'm not 100% sure. "Um, excuse me, Did Austin or Logan just ask if your husband farts?"

But who knew? - This afternoon, while coloring at the table. My not-so-delicate-it's-been-exposed-to-too-much-nose caught a whiff of a little something, something in the air. "Uh-oh, does somebody have to go poo-poo? Mommy smells a little something." I was met with half murmured "no's." A few moment's go by, "Okay - somebody has GOT to go poo-poo. Crayons down. Come on, lets go!"

Austin stops coloring. Looks up at me and very slowly, with straight faced seriousness states, "Mom, I. Am. Scaring. Monsters. Away. Okay?" And then returns to coloring and I can only assume his continued De-monstering of the house!"

Can it be - that at age 3 he already knows "silence is more deadly?"

Playdate anyone? We're cheaper than Ghostbusters!