Happiness is Having Twins: December 2014

12-2-14 When I pick up the girls from Mary's, I ask how was your day? Lily says, “Sammeli.” (Sammy, Eli) Who did you play with? Sammeli. Any question about Mary's the answer is Sammeli! When we get home, she pretends to talk on the phone. Sammeli.

They both say a rooster says, “Cock-a-doo!” Lily finds the Grinch on the Dr. Seuss blanket and makes the Grinch face. If we watch The Grinch, they both make the Grinch face!

I love how Violet scrunches up her eyes and nose when she laughs. It’s so cute!

12-3-14 I have the sweetest, funniest girls! Violet had owls on her sockies and she would look down, say "Whooooo," look at me with a surprised face like she didn't know there were owls on her socks, and then smile her giggly, scrunchy smile!

Lily is always the last one sitting at the table. She is sloooow like daddy and she doesn't want to get down! She'll often sit there a while with daddy even though she's done eating (or not done)!! Then, she leans her head all the way to one side to see me in the living room and says, “Hi Mama!!”

12-5-14 Violet peed on the potty!!!! We were all so excited and jumping around! All night, we said, who went pee-pee on the potty? Lily said, “Sissy!!” and Violet smiled her proud smile! She was dry when we got home this afternoon, so I sat her down. She read the special bathroom books and when she stood up, there it was! Wahoo!!!

12-6-14 Daddy's been gone for work the last 2 days, but he's coming home tonight! Yay! The girls have asked about him a few times. I’m glad it’s only a short trip.

Earlier today we went to see Santa at Jack's house. They wanted nothing to do with him! (Yesterday we saw Santa at Discovery Gateway and it took them a while to even look at him!) Jack’s parents throw a fun party. It’s too bad Ryan wasn’t there too! He has an epic playroom so they were plenty busy. At one point I looked up and saw Margaret, the girls’ dietician! She’s been a neighbor to Rusty’s family (Jack’s daddy) for years! It was great to see her and catch up. She said the girls look great and healthy! When it was time to eat, despite all the toys, the girls sat at the kiddie table and ate lunch. Of course Margaret noticed how well they ate!

That night the girls and I went to dinner with Demi and Danny at a pizza place in Sugar House. It was a lot of fun and the girls behaved and ate well. It’s nice when restaurants provide crayons and something to color on, but if not, I’m always prepared!

12-10-14 When I picked up the girls this afternoon, Mary gave them a nice compliment. She said that she loves how the girls are so good at exploring their toys, and playing with musical instruments. They’re always reading books or playing with blocks and they love the tricycle outside. It was nice to hear they play so nice and are inquisitive.

Lily dumps the blocks out of the bucket and puts it on her head. Then she comes to me and says, “Knock,” and I do and say, “Who is it?” She pushes up the bucket and says, “Lily!!!” Violet likes to play that game too! They also like us to tie blankets on their heads like old lady scarves. It’s actually pretty sweet!

12-13-14 This is going to be the last sequential date in our lifetime! Kind of neat!

We went to see Santa at Trolley Square. The line was a little long so we walked around a bit first, looking at the craft market they have there this time of year. We were upstairs looking down and we were talking about Santa and how the kids are so happy sitting on his lap. We asked if they wanted to go down and sit on his lap. They said, Yeah! When we got down there, we had to wait in a short line and we kept saying, “Look at the little girl! She’s sitting on Santa’s lap! Is she happy? (yeah) Is she crying? (no)” When it was our turn, did they want to sit on Santa’s lap? NO! They wanted to climb into his sleigh, but not sit with him! We got a few pictures standing near Santa. He said that kids don’t really like sitting on his lap at this age, until they’re 27 months. I guess he would know!!

We went to a neighbor’s birthday party later that night. Violet was protecting Lily from a boy stealing her balloon. She was whacking him with both of her balloons, and shouting, “Noooooo!” hahahaha!

12-15-14 Lily grabbed some of my yarn and said, “Come on sting (string)!” She was pulling on it and getting frustrated because it was caught and then she was just pulling on a short length of it and getting frustrated that the rest wasn’t moving! I was laughing so hard!

12-16-14 They are both starting to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with me. It's the sweetest thing ever! They'll sing meeee or hiiiigh. They love being rocked and sung to at bedtime now.

There are many things I want to record: reading 123 to the Zoo, reading th Elmo pet book with hidden sheep (they point to the sheep and belt out baa, baa, baa!), bath time, how quick they are going up and down the stairs, and doing their favorite puzzles.

12-19-14 They made jingle bell bracelets at Mary's today. They love them, especially Violet who put them all on one arm! They were singing Jingle Bells pretty good with me too. I guess they were practicing it all day at Mary’s!

12-20-14 They love singing!!! They sing anything with me all the time. They catch on to the last sound of the line and then sing it. Violet often hums along with her thumb in her mouth. Silly girl! They'll sing anything with me, but especially love Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle (Lily requests that one), Doggy in the Window, Wheels on the Bus (Lily says, "Move on back!" and Violet says, "Beep, beep!"). Lily belts out “someWHEEEERE over the rainBOOOWW,” and closes her eyes and shakes her head a little. She really gets into it!

12-23-14 Lily will do something silly, like stuff her doggy in her dollhouse, then say, “Ta, mama!" (Ta da!) They are so different at breakfast. Violet eats one puff at a time and bites them in half with her front teeth first. Lily grabs a handful and stuffs them in her mouth. They love the purple berry puffs the best!

Lily wiggles from side to side when she likes something a lot. (Daddy sometimes does that too!) Sings “Happy!!” (Pharrell Williams song)

Christmas will be in its own post!

12-26-14 Since it snowed yesterday we’ve been dying to go outside! After nap we got all bundled up to go outside and play in the snow! They loved it! They ran around and Daddy built a snowman! The girls had fun with Bella and then it started to get dark. Time to go in, but no, they laid down and made snow angels! Did they really know that’s what they were doing? Probably not, but it was so cute to see them laying in the snow together, giggling!

12-27-14 Happy Birthday, Ryan! After breakfast we went to the Natural History Museum! We always start at the top and make our way down. After we left the Native Voices room, Ryan said, “There’s Ty Burrell.” He’s Phil in Modern Family and we love that show! We knew he lived in Salt Lake, but didn’t expect to ever see him. He was there with his family so we didn’t bother them at all; we just went around the museum like they were any other family. It’s funny because we pretty much went through the whole museum with them. Sometimes we were ahead of them, and sometimes they were ahead of us. At the end I thought I should ask for an autograph because I’d regret it if I didn’t! He happily signed Ryan’s ticket and told him “Happy Birthday!” We went to have a yummy lunch at Toasters and then headed home to get the girls down for nap. Ryan chose to go to Bombay House for dinner. We stopped at Nordstrom Rack on the way and Ryan found the boots he was looking for! Yay! At dinner, the girls were really good and Lily ate soooo much! She loves the veggie biryani! After I put the leftovers in the box, she got the big spoon and cleaned the rest of the sauce out of the bowl! She would have kept going if we would have let her! Overall, Daddy had a lovely 33^rd birthday! We love you!!

12-28-14 Violet must have rolled out of bed onto the pillow and then onto the floor. When we went to bed she was all curled up on the floor. I picked her up and put her in bed. I love them in their toddler beds now. I can give them kisses when they are asleep!

Lily is still singing “Santa Comin' to Town!!!” She belts it out!!

We’ll be sad when we have to take the tree down. Probably after their birthday. The girls love the tree, and so do I. They say, “Tee on!” for us to turn on the lights, and at night they say, “Bye, tee!” Violet carefully pulls the soft bird ornaments off the tree and wears them on her wrists like bracelets.