Ear Hookers

Do you call earrings that?  No?  Oh, me neither....

For a long time all my ear hookers hook earrings have been a jumbled mess in my room.  I love earrings - my ears don't seem as sensitive to metal (ie: necklaces tend to give me hives).  Plus I like big earrings with my short hair - helps people realize I'm a girl!  haha!  But lately I end up wearing the same earrings all the time cause they are the only matches I can find.  Ugh.  So I decided decided to tackle this mess.

If you don't already know, I have an unhealthy obsession with E6000 - no, I'm not getting high off the smell (not that I know of anyways) but I just love this stuff.  It glues everything together!  I have been using it to fix fabric, metal, plastic, wood, etc.  We used it to glue the heads of these toys back on cause I was sick of them coming apart.  Yes, Christy, it does take a few hours to harden, but that's what I like about it.  You have time to play around and even change your mind.  And you don't accidentally glue your fingers together (most of the time...)!

I found this decorative sheet metal at Hob Lob.  I actually bought it a few weeks earlier for something else, but realized when I brought it home that it wasn't magnetic (aluminum, duh!!!)  I was going to build a frame for it, but I just happened to look at their decorative frames (no backs or glass) and found one the perfect size - no cutting!  AND it was 50% off!  SOLD!

I used these IKEA chairs (pre-assembly) as weights to hold the metal tight against the wood while the E6000 set.  Make sure and put down paper towels so the extra glue doesn't leak out and stick to your weights!

After I got the girls in their beds that night, the real fun began!  I used the Velcro Command Strips to adhere it to my wall (another one of my obsessions).  Then I dumped out all my jewelry and began sorting and untangling while watching TV!  I was a great night!

The finished product!  You know what I realized after they were all hung?  I have space for more earrings - whoo hooo!!!  *Jake rolling his eyes*

Now the plastic drawers can host my stud and post earrings without all the hookers!  haha!  I also bought this creepy hand thing to hold some of my rings.  I LOVE IT!  The weirdest part is that it's really close to the size of my hand, so it feels weird holding it.  But I think it's super cool!

Zesty Twirls

The twirls have changed a lot over the past few months.  It always shocks me when they do stuff the same - weird things like crossing their fingers.  But they have really started to show their different little personalities.  

THE TWIRLS

After I change one twirl's diaper, I hate standing back up to grab the second twirl. I try to lure them over to me with whatever toys are nearby, big hugs, high five, ET phone home, by tickling the first baby and making it look like a lot of fun over by mom, etc. I probably spend way more time trying to get them to come over than I would have if I just stood up and grabbed them. They are catching on to all my tricks. Sometimes they'll try running past me barely within arm's reach to tease me - and often they escape me!!! Sneaky girls!

They both talk a ton, but I don't understand their little "twin talk". They have their own language and it's really frustrating. I feel like a lot of their tantrums are from frustration at not being able to communicate. I have been trying really hard to make them say specific words to help with this. But it's slow. It's like teaching them a second language ??? But they understand a lot of what we say. In fact, they answer the TV like Scarlett did at this age. This video shows them answering Umi Zoomi, so at least we're able to communicate in one direction, kinda. Every once in a while they will say words like: chocolate milk, applesauce, rainbow, bubble guppies... these are complicated words! I know that they have it in them, now if they would just start speaking English all the time!

This video is just a cute video of Siena playing hide and seek and during it Jaide covers her mouth when she laughs. The twirls both do that all the time. I think it's adorable!

More tickles and they make animal noises: 

This video shows dare devil Siena climbing up the slide and Jaide being more cautious and watching from the top:

They love to like the sauce off the plates. Gross! But funny!

Both of the twirls like to cross their fingers. I catch Jaide doing it more often. It's one of those little quirks that make me wonder nature/nurture. Was it part of their DNA? Where did they learn that? Plus - this photo also shows Jaide's excellent hand eating talent!

In the morning, first thing, I make them both chocolate milk then I heat it up in the microwave. They LOVE to get their own cup out all on their own. I don't heat up Scarlett's but she likes me to put hers "up high too" so she can stand on the counter and reach it.

The twirls just starting fighting their naps - noooo!!!!! So I've been working on making them extra tired in the morning (lots of running around). Hopefully we can get another 6 months of good naps *fingers crossed*. At Laura's house they both sleep in a pack 'n play for nap time - they don't seem to mind! They like to have books in their bed to look at before they fall asleep (just for nap time). Siena always throws hers out when she's done while Jaide keeps them all in her bed with her. It's funny when we read stories together they will put their hand in my hand and twist it around until I grab it and make them point to the pictures. Love these ladies!

Often I hear them playing or fighting during nap time. But luckily they still sleep well at night. 

First time with official pony tails!

 It's so interesting to see the dynamic of twins. It's something that I never really paid attention to before, but I know that Heavenly Father prepared me by giving me lots of friends who are twins answer all my questions. I've learned so much from Jamie and her relationship with her identical twin sister Lyndi. It's like having a built in BFF!!! I already see that relationship forming with the twirls. I often find them around the house playing together. Always doing something together. These photos are some examples:

Jake realized the twirls wake up with different bed head. Siena's is always parted down the middle and Jaide's is always swoopy side bangs. Weird! Must be how they sleep.

Notice how they're both chewing on their hands - maybe getting molars? They like to be my little spoons and snuggle on the couch with me. But they also like to snuggle with each other.

Not sure what dangerous stair game they were playing here... little stinkers!

Siena was crawling, trying to reach for something, and Jaide decided to take advantage of the free ride. haha!!!

The girls recently discovered they can climb up onto the chairs. They push them all over the kitchen - mostly to the light switches or over to look at our fish (more about that soon). Luckily we are using folding chairs ('cause they are so comfy!) so if I need to I can just fold them up and the girls can't reach stuff that's high up - at least til they figure something else out! They are really starting to discover and push my boundaries (like unplugging the vacuum while I'm using it, etc). I need to figure something that works for time out with 2 kids at the same time - or even 3! We haven't had that yet, but I bet we will. I think I need to bring the pack 'n play into the family room as a time out "jail".

This video is when I caught them playing impromptu stroller races!

Both girls like to come bury their heads between my legs when they are upset. Which usually leaves a trail of snot and tears on my pants.

Zoolander would be jealous of my twirling twirls - they love to sing and dance!!!  Here Jake caught them playing ring-around-the-rosie together: CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They love to sing songs with dad at dinner time.  "Do As I'm Doing" is probably their favorite, they both love the "slowly" part and the "YAY" we all yell at the end (the end of every song and every prayer, we're just reverent like that). 

They love this little M&M Elvis that plays music.  Jake taught them to do his famous "finger point jig":

While they do many things the same, they also have many difference.......

SIENA

Siena loves to talk.  One day she came over to me wearing a hat and I told her she looked pretty and she said "ya, 'at" (for hat).  haha!  Doesn't seem like much, but I knew what she said - in English!  So it was big to me.

Siena loves to have races.  I can get her to go almost anywhere by telling her to march or by saying "on your mark, get set, go!"

Siena loves art.  She will sit and color or put stickers on paper way longer than Jaide.

Siena likes to clean.  She will take tissues, paper towels or diaper wipes and clean up around the house (what is she trying to say about my cleanliness?!).  She also likes to wipe everyone's mouths off.

One time Siena reached the top of the stairs before Jaide, she turned around on her belly at the top and reached her little hand down to help Jaide up.  It was a super sweet moment to see them care for each other.

Siena is wild and crazy.  She loves to explore and be super silly.  She loves to make us laugh and we love to make her laugh.  She is super ticklish and will giggle like crazy!  We always say she's a "little Jake".

She loves my hair dryer.  And the other photo was a day she threw up in the kitchen.  I just plopped her in the sink cause I needed to wash her off without leaving Jaide unattended around the vomit.  Siena thought it was a pretty cool day.

Even though we still have a language barrier, the twirls are getting good at finding other ways to communicate.  Siena often will come grab my hand and put it exactly where she needs help.  It's hard to catch on film, but this video is an example of her taking me to her problem:

Siena always brushes the hair out of her eyes with her whole arm.  I don't really see Jaide do this.  I think it's more of a habit for Siena cause sometimes she does it even when her hair is up. 

She cries like she wants everyone in the world to know that she's upset. If she is mad, sometimes she wants to make herself cry harder. How does she do this? By hurting herself. She'll bang her head (softly, but enough to hurt a little) in order to make herself scream. Oh my goodness! What a little devil. I have tried to catch this on film and I finally did! I usually try to stop her if I can tell she's trying to escalate, but this one time I let her do it so I would have proof of her little misbehavior.

JAIDE
Jaide is my straightener, always putting lids on, fixing blankets, cleaning up...

Jaide is [usually] the peacemaker.  She is cautious and doesn't do well with change.  She cries if she doesn't understand what's going on or if it's a new situation that she's unsure about.  We call her the "little Jenni."  She likes her routine.  This is another time I caught her sitting on the stander, waiting for me to wrap her "cast" before bath time.  Creature of habit.

Jaide is more emotional, but she's so sweet.  She came over to me when I was laying on the couch and just kissed me on the lips.

Jaide has a sweet tooth and loves treats.  She loves to look "pretty" and is often wearing jewelry.  But for whatever reason she likes to wear her jammies unzipped a few inches.  haha!

Jaide loves books.  All my girls do, but Jaide loves them the most.  She will scream if I forget to put books in her crib - and they can't be just any book.  Sometimes they have to be specific books.  Yikes!  When I sing to them at night time, sometimes I will hum at the end before I lay them down.  I had to stop doing that cause Jaide likes to hum!  So much so that it gets her all hyper again!  haha!

Jaide cries like she's sincerely offended or emotionally hurt by something.  She also likes to hold in her laughter.  She is ticklish, but she holds in her laughs and laughs quietly unless she's bursting at the seams.

This girl loves to be comfy.  She's always looking for a place to sit or a lap to cuddle on.

She loves being a "big girl" and eating at the table.  Mostly that just means I find her rummaging through the dirty dishes that are left on the table.

These are our Zesty Twirls!  They keep us on our toes.  We are so grateful for their sweet little personalities and the joy they bring our home!

Basement Swings and Other Things...

Still playing catch up... this post is all about February.  

Did you know that Scarlett is into science?  I know, the product of two engineers, she really didn't have a choice.  But I'm always surprised when she shows us how science-minded she really is.  Like when I asked her about her preschool craft (yarn tied to a popsicle stick) "is that your fishing pole?" "no, it's my grappling hook for climbing up walls."  Or when she was using her Doc McStuffins doctors kit "Mom, let me check your ears with my otoscope."  After we had a long discussion about germs, she said "I can't wait to tell Kaylie about our immune system is tiny super heroes in our body that fight germs! Pow pow!!"  Or after washing her hands at the church "we have to leave the sinks in the church going just a tinkle so the pipes don't freeze." (which we had to do over the really cold spells).

Scarlett kept asking "how does the factory make [insert any object: diapers, chocolate, bean bags, etc]?"  So Jake finally just started showing her clips of How It's Made.  And she sits and watches them!!!  The next photo is this weather book of mine that she found.  She loves to talk about all the types of weather.  NERD!  (but still resists clothes - it's really our biggest disagreement, and honestly there are a lot of days that I just don't have any fight left in me).

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree... (about the nerd thing, not the lack of clothes)

Scarlett was dancing around like this and it totally reminded me of this SNL sketch - hilarious!

Scarlett using the broom handles as "crouches" (crutches).  Then one day she asked me "Mom, am I so tasty? Can you eat me for dessert?"

When Scarlett was at school I got a text from Laura: "Could you please teach your daughter not to use such foul language at preschool? Words like "trapezoid" just seem inappropriate for this age group."  haha!

During the cold months we escaped to the basement.  The twirls loved indoor sledding (though they got dumped out a few times).

They found their baby swings.  I buckled them in and turned the swings on.  They sat in them for like 15 min!  So funny!  Maybe it brought back memories....

Eating green smoothies.  I'm glad they like them, but when I change the diaper after I always think "why do I do this?"  haha!  At least I know they have clean colons!  Scarlett loves to feed her little puppies.

Dance party!  And just relaxing and watching a show.

Siena LOVES the slide!

Frozen hair to match the Frozen shirt!  I was taking Scarlett's photo and the twirls decided to come line up next to her.  Maybe they thought we were having a run race.

When I grabbed some oranges from the fridge the twirls both yelled "bah!" Maybe ball? in their "twin talk"?  It was just funny that they yelled the same thing at the same time!  Jaide loves to lick the extra ketchup out of the hot dog holder.

Sisters, just hanging out together.

I loving watching them play when they don't think I'm there.  Why is Scarlett licking Siena's finger?  How did Siena get a toothbrush?

I found these shower hooks at IKEA and we use them as a door lock.  So the girls can't get out or when I'm showering so they can't get in.

I found out that Meijer no longer has the carts with the extra seats attached.  Boo!!!  So we had to improvise.  Not my favorite method, but it works well and I don't have to worry about toddlers climbing out and falling on their heads.  I saw my friend from church that day (who has 13 yr old twin girls) and she took this picture. (just in case you thought I was asking random strangers to take photos...)

Occasionally we spend Sacrament Meeting in the primary room, listening through the speakers and letting the girls run wild.  We've been tempted to just go there every Sunday but decided we need to teach the girls to be reverent(ish).  So it's just our backup plan on rough days.

Playgroup.  I'm trying to be better about going every week.

Our friend, Sara, found out the gender of her baby.  She gave Scarlett a ball of white play doh and as she mixed it - it turned BLUE!  How adorable!  And so sweet to think of us!!!

Knock Knox came over to hang out.  Even his older brothers came one day.  Luckily I had a few boy-approved activities for them.  Jamie let me bleach a chunk of her hair and put purple in it!!!  Wild Diva!  I don't have a good photo of it, I need to get one.

The night before Ashley and her girls came over Scarlett said this in her bedtime prayer: "Please bless my window to not make any noise and please bless no giants to come to our house.  Please bless I will have a good day with Lyla and show her my new painted walls and my toys."  (oh, I will post about our walls soon).  The twirls just love baby Farrah.  They swarm her every time she comes over.  We have been teaching them to be "so soft".  I love this video - Siena babbling and Jaide trying to find a comfy spot to relax.  Totally fits their little personalities.

One February evening I called Jake (who was out of town, of course) at 10pm and told him I hadn't eaten dinner yet.  Why? you may ask... well, I'm so glad you asked:

It all started when all the girls were in the bath tub.  I told Scarlett if she squirted me one more time she would lose the privilege of watching a show after bath time.  She squirted me (on purpose) and I told her that there was no show tonight.  I got her out of the tub while she was crying hysterically and I just put her on my bed to deal with after the twirls were dry.  I went back in the bathroom and Jaide started FREAKING OUT - crying and shaking with fear.  I looked in the tub (water was already drained) and found little poop balls from (I'm guessing) Jaide's bum.  This is the second time she's freaked out after seeing her own poop - clean freak? scared of something leaving her body?  I don't know, but I feel bad that she's so upset about it.  So I got the diaper wipes to pick out the pieces, when I turned turned around Siena was holding the poop and handing it to me like it was no big deal.  I picked up the poop and scrubbed them both down again.  I got Jaide out first, hoping to calm her down.  As I was drying her off she threw up everywhere (from her tantrum).  The vomit was red and made my heart skip a beat - until I remembered that we all ate Red Velvet Oreos right before the bath.  I quickly picked up Jaide and put her back in the tub, then snatched up Siena who was still clean.  I took her in my room to put her diaper on (all while Jaide was still screaming and Scarlett - not wanting to be outdone - was crying very loudly).  I decided to turn on a favorite episode, yes I know that I said no show, but I was soooo past caring about "saving face".  I went back in the bathroom just in time to see Jaide make herself throw up again. I cleaned her off then scooped her up with big towels and just snuggled her.  We went to watch the show and calm her down (she wasn't even in a diaper, but I didn't care).  The worst part was: she would calm down then she would whimper and just bury her head in her hands.  Like she was reliving the moment the poop came out and she was so distraught about it.  I felt so bad for my little sweetie.  Luckily (?) they were all sick with a nasty cold and I gave them benadryl at dinner time.  So it was already in their system and they all went to bed within minutes of laying them down.  I went back to my bathroom and bleached the tub, cleaned up all the vomit and bleached the floor, shook out the towels in the other bath tub, drainoed that bathtub cause of the nasty chunks, started the washing machine (with a lot of white vinegar in the bleach dispenser to help with the smell), took out the stinky poop trash, cleaned up the kitchen from dinner, opened all the windows cause - despite the freezing temperature - I had to get rid of the smell (including paint fumes cause our painter was at our house that day), then - finally - at 10pm I sat down to eat dinner.  It's not like this was the worst night ever, it's just an example of the chaos and the days that I really wished Jake was home to help.  But he let me vent all the gross details over the phone and that helped lot.  I'm just glad he's back now (more about that in another post).

Other random things that happened to me this month: I found out that Ford was hiring like 27 people from BYU this April!  I wanted to somehow help them transition to Michigan so I made a BYU Ford Family FB group for the new hires to ask questions.  It has over 100 members now and it's being utilized a lot!  Then, I was at Target one night (sans children).  I was in the aisle next to this couple asking questions about vacuums and the Target sales rep was like "honestly, I really don't know anything about them."  I went over and we started chatting about the vacuum we have - that I LOVE!  I took them demo one off the shelf and showed them all the features that I like.  They were so grateful - especially cause it was like a third of the price than the one the Target lady was recommending.  They asked me how I knew so much about vacuums (I'm an enthusiast??) I guess my aero-thermal engineer side geeks out at cool technology!  Then finally, and I'm only including this for myself cause honestly this stuff doesn't happen much to me anymore, the guy at the drive through window at Wendy's was acting all weird to me and he finally blurted out "Your eyes look like marbles! *confusion on my face, trying to figure out what he said* That's definitely a good thing."  I really appreciated the compliment after a long and hard day (obviously, cause we were having fast food for dinner) and I looked pretty gross too (no makeup, air dryed hair, hoodie, etc).  

Congrats!  You made it to the end of this post!!!  You win a gold star!  To claim your gold star, just send me your SSN, birth day, a lock of hair, and your first born child.  :-)