Style

These girls crack me up.  They have their own definite sense of style and certain clothes that they mostly keep for themselves.  See that black and white striped skirt that Maddie is wearing?  Well, we have two and Maddie alternates them so she can wear that skirt 3-4 times a week right now.  For a little while Annie and Maddie were both wanting to wear that skirt which once belonged to Elizabeth.  When I was shopping at Target for their birthday I happened to see that they were making the same one we had already, so I grabbed another so Annie and Maddie could each have one.  That hasn't worked out so well because Maddie is wearing them both.  But it works out because we have two pairs of the jeggings that Annie loves to wear, and one had been intended for Maddie.

                                                

Cookie Dough

There are times I think we are making progress in treating our family with kindness, and other times I think we've made absolutely none.  Tonight when we were making chocolate chip cookies, Ryan took the beater off the KitchenAid mixer and offered it to Annie and Maddie.  Maddie was in the kitchen, and Annie was slightly further away in the family room.  Maddie was to Dad in about a step and a half and declared, "Annie doesn't like chocolate chip cookies," while grabbing the beater in her greedy little hands.  Annie was in hearing range and was outraged, "I do too like cookies!"

Anything I've ever said about my twins looking out for each other is a lie.  They are happy to throw each other under a bus if it means getting cookie dough.

Last of the fall soccer

Our last soccer game was supposed to be last Saturday, but it was rained out.  The games that were at 9 am still played, but it was pretty sloppy by 10:30.  So we rescheduled for the following Thursday.  Someone was supposed to get a referee, but by 10 minutes past starting time no ref had showed up.  So the opposing team coach refereed the game.  We needed to get started because the sun was fading fast.

As the game progressed, I noticed fog? mist? was starting to come in.  I had to take a picture of it behind the kids.

 Then I noticed that we were in for a spectacular sunset.  Be warned, I took a lot of pictures.

 The fog was surrounding us.

I got the soccer ball in the air:

 The kids probably thought I was taking pictures of the playing.  But the sky was a pretty amazing backdrop to the brutal game.  All of our team got kicked hard at some point in the game.  At least Annie and Maddie held it together better than some.

 That sky though...

 Made it to half time!

 Half time pep talk with Coach Michelle

 By the end of the game it was pretty hard to see.  There were small girls out there, but I couldn't always see where the ball was.

 Taking an end of the season team picture in the fog in the dark isn't the easiest thing to do.

We made it!  Go team Sunnyside!

Milk Mustache

I'm not one to take selfies.  At least selfies of myself with no one else in the picture frame.  But somehow my kids have picked up on the trend, and so sometimes I find gems like this on my phone.  Annie must have been pretty proud of her milk mustache.

Just Because

Some kids thrive on making noise.  Lots and lots of noise.

That's Elizabeth on the piano, Emma on the bass clarinet, Maddie on the trombone (Ryan's from back in the day), and Annie on the clarinet (Elizabeth's from band).

Maybe someday they will collaborate on something that sounds... good.

Class Picture Day

You know that mom who lets their child go to school on picture day wearing some strange outfits because the child thinks she looks nice?  That would be me.  I don't know what to say about Maddie's outfit this year.  She picked out her whole outfit very carefully and thinks she looks great. 

How can I say otherwise?

Annie is wearing the same jean jacket she wore for individual pictures in the fall.  She loves that thing.  She also loves that shirt, jeans, and pair of boots.  They are on constant replay.  It was supposed to be a matching twin outfit, so she can wear that outfit twice as often.  

1st Grade Writing

I love looking at writing that the kids have done.  These both have been pieces that have been displayed on the hallway wall at school.  The first one is by Annie in honor of Dr. Seuss week.

"If that Cat in the Hat came to your house, how would you get him to leave?"  Annie's answer: I would put water on him.  Then pack up his stuf.  Then I would kick him out of the door.

Some of the other kids wrote that they would call the police or 911 so the Cat in the Hat could be put in jail.  I guess The Cat in the Hat is really not welcome at anyone's house.

This one was one of the first opinion papers Maddie wrote, this being whether or not the class should have a Valentine's Day party.

"I beileve we shold have a Valentie's Day partty beuase it allows us to Show people we love them and having a Vantines partty wold be good beuase I Love Valentines."

Can you believe one kid didn't think they should have a Valentine's party?  Who raises a kid like that?

Toothless

Annie walked in the front door after school with a wad of bloody tissue sticking out of her mouth, and more wadded up in one hand.  In other words, she looked like a mess.  Did I miss a phone call from the school?  What happened?

With my eyebrows raised, I nonchalantly asked what happened to Annie today?  Speaking around the bloody tissue mess was going to be difficult, so Maddie answered for her twin.  Annie's tooth fell out on the bus.  

Then came the full version:  Well, actually a girl on the bus dared Annie to pull out her own tooth, and Annie happily obliged.  

Annie dropped her handful of kleenex on the kitchen table, and she started uncrumpling all of them trying to find the little bitty baby tooth.  She couldn't find it.  There was a moment of panic.  I calmly stepped in and was able to find her tooth tucked into a scrunched up corner of one of the tissues.

Crisis adverted.  Mom saved the day.

It's Dr. Seuss spirit week at school, and the reason Annie is wearing her soccer jersey in this picture is that it was sports day.  We don't actually own sports gear, exactly.  So the twins wore their own soccer shirts, and Elizabeth wore a BYU hand-me-down t-shirt from someone in the ward (which isn't precisely sports, but BYU does have basketball, football, etc. teams, so we're all good, right?).  When I was in volunteering, I realized the closest thing I have to sport clothes is a Quidditch "World Cup" t-shirt.

I think that means I prefer books to real sports.

Church Art

 Today during sacrament meeting, I had two kids drawing the same picture.  Elizabeth was doing one of her usual brightly colored, somewhat abstract pictures on one side of me, and Annie copying it to the best of her ability on the other side.  It was cute to watch.  As Elizabeth would finish with one of her markers, she would pass it to Annie and Annie would copy what Elizabeth had done.

Elizabeth's is on the left, and Annie's version is on the right.  It's a volcano.

Annie the Elf

I love when I go in to volunteer in the girls' classrooms and find things like this decorating the walls.  It makes me smile.

Purple Day

Twinsies

One of the joys of having twins is having two toothless smiles at the same time.

Twins Party

Annie was feeling better this morning.  Annie and Maddie wore their new matching outfits from Grandma and Grandpa to school.  I came in this afternoon for a combined class party.  Annie and Maddie aren't the first set of twins with the same teacher combination to have a birthday, and those twins set a precedent.  We never go quite as big as other families, and this year was no different.  We took cookies and juice and that was it!

Early birthday and stuff

Ryan had a conference in Wenatchee that lasted a couple of days and was going through Annie and Maddie's birthday.  We thought it would be a great idea to skip school and go up with him so we could see him at least in the evenings.  So we headed up Sunday evening and had dinner with Brynne and Curt.  Grandma and Grandpa left gifts for the birthday girls, and Annie and Maddie were too excited to wait to open their presents that night.

After dinner and presents and visiting, we headed to our hotel.  We had to sneak in since Ryan was supposed to be there alone.  I feel like maybe we aren't teaching our children to choose the right, exactly.

Primary

I found this picture of Annie and Maddie's class on Facebook, posted by their teacher.  Aren't they cute with their "Thankful for the Bishop" picture?

What She Wore Wednesday

When you look amazing, you just know it.  Annie put this amazing outfit together herself.

Last Game

Whew.  We made it to the end of fall soccer season.  Between volleyball and soccer, we've been hopping.  It's just our luck that both sports teams play on the same night.  It made it a little tricky last week with Ryan out of town, and both Emma and the twins had away games.  I had to get someone else to pick Emma up when she got back to town and take her home because it was just not going to work otherwise.

We are missing two of the girls in these photos.  They just hadn't arrived yet.

 Even our coach showed up for this game...

Soccer has been good for the twins.  Even Maddie was showing some major improvement in her interest and ability these last couple of games.  At the beginning of the season, she was happy to watch the ball go from one end of the field to the other from wherever she was.  I'm not saying we'll ever be good, but at least she was chasing the soccer ball and trying to kick it.

All I Want For Christmas

Both of Annie's top front teeth have fallen out.  It's so stinkin' cute.  There's just something so 1st grade about the lost front teeth look.  As we are approaching the Christmas season, I had both Annie and Maddie sing the "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" song for me so I could record them in all of their sweet perfection.  Annie is up first.

Maddie hasn't lost her two front teeth yet, but she does have one that is pretty loose and hanging crookedly.

All three of us together for the finale.  

I think all I want for Christmas is for these girls to stay this way.  I love them so.

Ice Cream

I told the girls they could have *one* spoonful of ice cream.

Silly Girls

Annie and Maddie continue to keep life interesting.  This is Maddie getting out of her shower to use the toilet.  Because even when Mom reminds you to go potty before your shower, sometimes you still forget.  Maddie was well covered from the coldness of the bathroom.

 Annie lost another tooth.  This is the face she made when I told her smile for the camera.