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By Dan, on December 12th, 2011 Time flies! It has already been a month since the last post, so I suppose it’s time for another update with more pictures of our sweet little girls. Their language skills continue to improve by leaps and bounds. It’s been abundantly clear for a while now that they’re no longer simply parroting back phrases that they’ve heard; they’re actually sorting through their vocabulary and constructing brand new sentences that communicate their thoughts. Last week Carolyn noticed a spiderweb up in the corner of the ceiling near the dining room table. Most of their sentences are still rather short (often just three or four words), so I was a little astonished to hear her come up with the six word sentence “Daddy clean up spiderweb with chair?” Needless to say, she was very pleased to see me comply, and I think they even applauded a little.
For the last year or so they have always really enjoyed watching out the front window on Friday mornings when the garbage truck comes by. It’s big and noisy and has a giant claw that reaches out to pick up the trash can and then dump it into the back of the truck. They seem to look forward to it all week long! But a few weeks ago they were out walking down the sidewalk with my Mom on Friday morning, and apparently when the big noisy garbage truck came by THAT close, it scared them a bit and they cried all the way home. Since then, they’ve definitely been a bit more skittish about loud noises… So last week, the girls and I were out raking up the leaves on our front lawn. They were having a wonderful time jumping on the piles of leaves and kicking them around… But then a big noisy truck drove by, and for some reason it spooked Elizabeth — so she ran over to me whining and crying, “Daddy hug! Daddy hug!” She was standing right next to my leg, and I had my hands full with the rake, so I just said “It’s OK Sweetie, you can hug my leg!” That didn’t seem to be good enough. “Daddy hug! Daddy hug!” she repeated. By this point, the truck was already disappearing down the street. “Just hug my leg, honey!” And then, still in her pathetic little whiny voice, “No, hug tummy! HUG TUMMY!” I suppose I was a tiny bit reluctant at first because I don’t want them to get all clingy, but how could I refuse that? They both got tummy hugs, and I have to admit those are my favorite kind too. Another fun thing has been that at bedtime lately, as Janet and I each hold one of the girls before we sing Rock-a-bye Baby and tuck them in, they almost always ask “Family hug?” And then, “More family hug?” Yeah, it might just be a ploy to prolong the going to bed process, but how can you say no to that?
This morning I overheard each of the girls apparently talking to the little toy she was playing with, saying “Jesus loves me.” And they seem to be at least somewhat aware of the approach of Christmas, because when they saw a decorative picture of wrapped presents, they both said things like “Open presents?” I replied, “Yes, soon it will be Christmas time and you can open up some presents. Do you remember doing that last year?” And it was Carolyn who said, “Nana and Papa’s house!” I’m not sure if she really remembers that from a year ago, or if Janet has recently talked with them about what’s in store. In any case, I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun this year!
Now, here are some pictures!
 Story Time with Nana  Helping Mommy make pancakes  Helping EAT the pancakes!  Story Time with Daddy  Watching Caillou (a freakishly bald 4 year old) on the TV We’ve been glad for the many days of fine weather this Fall. If it’s sunny and warm enough, the girls and I often head out to Dublin to visit with Janet during her lunch break. Usually we just drive to a local park and let the girls run around for a while, and everyone has a good time. The next three pictures are from one such visit.
 Elizabeth climbs atop her throne  Carolyn's proud to be sitting on the BIG chair!  Swinging and smiling  The girls recently had an opportunity to try on their Christmas dresses!  We're very, very blessed!
By Dan, on November 10th, 2011 The girls just love to go play at the park. When I ask if they want to go for a walk in the stroller, they’re almost certain to ask “Park?” And after walking several blocks, when we finally round the last corner and the park comes into view down the street, they both exclaim excitedly and in unison “Park! Park!” Often enough, that might even be followed with outright clapping and cheering — “Yaaaaayyy!”
 Running!  "Cleaning" the sand off the play structure platform  Happy girl!  Pretty in pink  Four hands are better than two! In addition to diligently “cleaning” the sand off of the play structure platforms, they also had a great time picking up handfuls of small dried leaves that had collected inside the sand area, and then tossing them out onto the sidewalk.
 Bye bye, leaves!  They stuck with this for a while, and actually cleared out a surprising number of leaves.  Carolyn winding up for the pitch...  Hey Elizabeth, there's something on your shoulder...
By Janet, on November 7th, 2011 It hasn’t been all that long since I first observed the girls in pretend play. My first recollection is from our family vacation in June. On the drive home I was passing Cheerios to the girls in the backseat. It was snack time anyway, and by passing the Cheerios back one at a time I could keep them occupied longer during the drive. I noticed that one of the girls would give the Cheerio to her baby and say “nom nom” before consuming the Cheerio herself. Their pretend play has developed significantly since then. Now they wrap their babies in blankets and tuck them in, sing Rock-A-Bye Baby and read stories to baby, and put pretend bibs on themselfs to eat pretend food. Oh yeah, and they put on costumes!
 Happy Halloween from Winnie the Pooh & Tigger Too!  Pounce!  Do you have a smackerel of honey?  Here's some honey!  Bouncin's what Tiggers do best! We also made a trip to Joan’s Farm & Pumpkin Patch again this year. The girls love being outside anyway, and they certainly had fun running around and exploring. And yes, they pretty much ran everywhere. After all, why would anyone walk when running is an option?
 Do you have any idea how hard it was to get BOTH of them to sit still at the same time and look anywhere near the camera?  Fun family outing  It's heavy, but she's strong.  Lift with your legs! Of course, there was more than just pumpkins to explore. Like sticks,
 Stick! and rocks,
 How many rocks can I balance on top? and leaves,
 TWO leaves! and animals,
 What's this? and dirt!
 It's okay if you brush it off. And the pumpkins were fun too.
 Carolyn & the Pumpkins  Elizabeth & the Pumpkins  A little help from Mommy  After a fun-filled day it was time to head home. All in all a fun trip. Special thanks to Nana and Papa for joining us. Two active little girls, four adults, two still cameras and one video camera. Yep, that’s what it took to capture some of the moments to share with you.
By Janet, on November 3rd, 2011 
Now that I’m a mother, I begin to understand and appreciate how children can inspire a parent to do something that otherwise wouldn’t be worth the effort. But pleasing that special little one will make them smile – and there is great value in that!
Recently Elizabeth came to me with a toy in need of repair. The paper wrapping on the play can of beans had been chewed and gotten torn and was in danger of coming completely off. She wanted me to fix it. I pondered, wondering how could I oblige her. In the end, I used some glue to affix the wrapping, then wrapped the whole thing in packing tape hoping that would keep every thing in place. It made her happy and that made it worth it.
It reminded me of a baby doll I had when I was a young girl. This wasn’t just any doll – you could bathe her and she even came with a tiny little bath sponge. Then one day the sponge broke – split right down the middle. I took it to my Daddy and asked him to fix it. His remedy? He used glue to put it back together. While the sponge was once again in one piece, it now had quite a solid seam running the width of it. I mentioned I was young, right? So you might figure I was still solidifying my language skills. I complained, “It’s not easy.” He had done his best and I used that little sponge for many more years. And we still remember that something “hard” is also something “not easy.”
Note: I thought I still had that doll in a box in the garage, but I looked and couldn’t find it. I tried finding her on the internet but wasn’t successful.
By Janet, on October 25th, 2011 We had a very busy day on Saturday. The girls LOVE to be helpers and there were many opportunities for them…
First, they swept the patio.
 Teamwork! Working together makes it go quicker!
Then they helped with the raking.
Maybe I’ll have to see if I can find some garden gloves in their size.
Later they helped mash the potatoes for dinner. (Sorry, no pictures of that one.)
Other favorite “helping” activities include: mixing up ice cream, cutting out biscuits, handing me laundry to fold, putting laundry away, or handing me groceries to put away. They are very busy little girls!
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