Proud Mama

The kids were playing in Skylar's room while I cleaned out his closet. Both climbed up into the chair and surprisingly didn't push each other off. So I handed them each a book and they sat there for awhile reading together. We have read to the kids since we first took placement of them as newborns. Every day, as many books as they will sit through. It is not uncommon to have them want to read several in a row. Elaina will bring us book after book while Skylar likes to have the same ones read over and over. Lately, his favorite is A Color of His Own by Leo Leoni. The other day I kept trying to read another one and he kept pushing it aside and picking A Color of His Own up. Four times we read it! They choose to read alone, they laugh as we read familiar books. They read in the car, in the bathtub, baskets of books are in every room in the house. The teacher in me was so proud to see them sharing a book together today. Ahh, I hope this lasts!

Christmas and Early January 09

We woke up Christmas morning to a very cold house! Our heat went out in the middle of the night. It was a minor problem and we got it fixed before lunchtime but it was not fun. Luckily we had a space heater that we put next to our tree. So opening presents wasn't too bad. And the basement stays pretty warm. We are lucky it was only one day which is much better than I am sure many less fortunate than us could say. We tried to not go overboard with the gifts especially since they just had a big birthday party and really are too young to know. We got them a few little gifts and the wagon was their big present. We also got them tons of books which is as much a present for us since we read all day long and the same ones get old fast! We are so lucky to have the twins in our lives...it makes Christmas so much more special now that they are part of our family!


Checking out the loot and not looking at the camera!!


Skylar was fascinated with his phone, which is just like the kind I had when I was little. Gotta love Fisher Price classics!


Elaina modeling her Smurfette shirt!! Love it!


Can you tell which one liked it right away?!? All it took was a ride around the house for Skylar to get excited! It even has beverage holders:)





Don't worry...no babies were injured during the taking of this photo! Blackmail I am sure later!


Our little man with crazy hair and lots of drool!


Getting into trouble! I was telling her no which she thinks is funny!


Skylar loves his new Little People garage from Aunt Barb! He also loves Elaina's doll house but we are ok with that!


Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk! Thanks Uncle David and Aunt Amy for my KU attire!


They love their castle playhouse and Elaina has decided it is easier to climb over the door to get it. Skylar gets a little freaked out once inside and prefers to watch her!


I have a ponytail now...I love it and Skylar loves to pull it!


Here she is reading, her favorite thing to do!


And another book...


MoMo gets attacked when she comes over! Elaina is checking out her earrings by the way.

This weather stinks!!! We are housebound:(

We are feeling a bit housebound with the weather we are having lately. Walks have been nearly impossible but now it is so cold, we don't even like to take the babies anywhere in the car. Our whole house just feels cold! BLAHHH!! I am already ready for spring and warmer weather! So here are a few photos from around the house

Both the kids love to be read to and enjoy books. But Elaina REALLY loves books! Like, if all she had were books to play with she would be happy. She crawls over to them and looks at the pictures, will go through the baskets until she finds one she likes, and will point at the things she sees while turning the pages. We are so excited that she likes it that much and are really encouraging it as much as we can. We let her hold books in the car, in the bath, and read to her (and Skylar) as much as possible. We also think books are one thing you can't have too much of and we buy them as often as we can so they have lots to choose from. As you can tell from these pictures she gets comfy when reading!

This one cracked us up. We have their old bathtub in the upstairs playroom and put their books in it so they are easy to get to and stay somewhat neat. Well, we noticed that Elaina had decided to just climb in and read. She was in there for awhile and when she couldn't find the one she wanted, she looked for it outside the tub and then settled back into it.


Skylar playing with his new Christmas toy from Grandpa and Mimi. He loves it but as you can see from all the pieces he has thrown on the ground, he gets a little rough with it. He is ALL BOY!


With weather like this, we tend to stay in our pajamas most of the morning. Doesn't she look cozy?!? I want an adult version of those pajamas!


Someone Jon knows through work, made this dual rocking chair for the kids as a gift. It is beautiful and was such a nice present!! Skylar didn't like it at first, but now he climbs onto it and plays with the bears faces and laughs. This is classic Skylar and Elaina though and it makes me laugh looking at the picture!


Want more proof he is all boy? Check out the hole in the bottom of his mouth! He had cracked a tooth a few weeks before and finally had to have it taken out. It looks much better now. Poor guy has not had it easy with teething. To make it worse, he got relief for one day (the day this was taken) and then the next day was super crabby because the tooth on the other side came in. He now has a gap on the top and the bottom!


Ok, so the lighting is not good but look at the cute toy they gave him and put in his overall pocket! It just made me smile and we saved it along with his tooth which they put in a box for him.


Finally onto the big tub...they hated being in it together. Well, actually it was more Elaina who wanted nothing to do with Skylar in the tub. He didn't mind too much! We got pictures and got them out. Now they love to play in there and Elaina especially loves to lay down and put her face in the water. No fear at all of the water, which is both reassuring and scary. We had planned to do swim lessons last summer but with moving it didn't happen. Soon, very soon, so our little fish are ready for the pool in the summer (and the beach when we go on vacation this spring!)