Birthday Parties Rock!!

We've are lucky to have so many friends with summer birthdays!! In the past month we've been to outdoor jungle gym parties, a Gymboree party and a gymnastics party. The girls just love having these new environments to climb and play. And, of course they think the best part of a party is the CAKE!!

Speech Therapy

As you may know, Ev is having a speech therapy session every week at our home. I thought I'd share some of the tips and tricks the therapist has given me...

- Children must master sounds to gain words. Therefore, it is important to always be making sounds with them - animal noises, sound effects, all kinds of noises. This is not something that comes natural for me.

- Around 2 kids should be given options as much as possible. When preparing dinner, ask if the child wants the yellow or pink plate. They should be given choices for as much as possible. Just make sure you will be comfortable with what they choose - this might be especially important if you are letting them pick their clothes.

- Blowing whistles and bubbles is not just fun, but helps them develop critical muscles and mouth positions that are necessary for speaking. You might find when they fist use whistles they are biting them, so try to have them use their lips rather than teeth. I have a bag of different whistles and both of the girls just love blowing them. You can buy lots of cheap whistles at the $1 store or Target in the "goodie bag" section.

- The ability to make a fast, accurate decision is important. Take a bag and place in it shapes or colors or animals or whatever... Puzzle pieces work very well. Have your child sit in front of you. Pull out 2 pieces and hold them up - ask the child to point to the dog. If s/he points to the cow, pull the pieces back and ask them to point to the dog. This should help them make fast, accurate choices. My girls just love this game.

- Playdoh, stamps, stickers, crayons, markers, pens -- kids just love any kind of crafts. But, don't just plunk them down and let them play on their own. At least some of the time sit with him/her and talk about what they are doing - have sound effects and make it as much fun as possible.

- Play I Spy with the things around you. Ask your child to bring you the yellow sock or whatever. This will be fun for them and will also help them focus and scout things out.

Time and Focus...

It is amazing what can be done with a little time and focus. Dave was lucky enough to have both Friday and Monday off - which made for a good chunk of family time. I had already scheduled the girls to be at their babysitters on Friday, so we had a day without them. What did we do??? We (mostly Dave) painted the dining room RED! And, not only did we start the project, but we finished it, moved the furniture back and hung wall coverings. That is the best part!! We often start projects and things get derailed and crazy, but this time it was finished!

We also spent the 4 days assembling the lawnmower, mowing the lawn, putting away the snow blower, taking the bikes in for a tune-up, and there was even time for entertaining and attending parties. The girls enjoyed a lot of time in the yard. They love their sandbox and water table. And, Buddy the Dog, loves to run like a mad man in the yard. He is managing to kill plants, dig holes and drive me somewhat crazy!!

A wonderful trip to Virginia...

Last weekend we took a short family trip to Virginia to visit some old friends. This was another flight for the girls and things went pretty well. We got them happy meals with nuggets to make the flight more interesting. Ev ate all the apples and Erin ate all the nuggets -- having twins is great. Other than take off, they did very well. But, Erin did not like the noise and turbulence that happens during the first 15 minutes or so of a flight.


It was so nice to spend time with our friends - Bunny, Jeff, Josh and Ajay. The boys are so big!! Josh is 3.5 and the girls got a kick out of all the cool things he can do -- like use scissors!

We were there for a baptism - Dave and I are the godparents to these 2 sweet little boys. The ceremony was nice and personal - thank God for goldfish! We also had a fun trip to the zoo... although somehow there were only about 6 animals we saw. Not sure what happened there. But, it was nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

No More Night Night........

So, this morning I awoke at 5:30 to Erin saying "Hello. Hello!" I think she went back to sleep. Then, at 6:30 she started yelling at Ev - "Sissy, no more night night! YaYa (their name for each other), no more night night." This officially woke the entire family and our day began.

Tonight after we put the girls to bed, they were taking, reading and doing their thing. About 30 minutes later we heard Erin say to Ev, "No night night. Sissy!!!"

So, she wakes her up in the morning and does not let her got to bed. Dave and I are sure that some day Evie will be asking for her own room. She has plenty or reason for this request!

Funny Photos...

It is always fun to find photos other people have taken of your kids - photos you never knew existed. While snooping through a friends website with a zillion photos I found some cute ones...




Evelyn hanging with Daddy (summer of 2007)...











Proof that at one point Erin did enjoy the swings (summer of 2007)...








Evelyn enjoying a cold beverage...

Meet Buddy...

Can you believe it? We got a dog!! Buddy is the newest member of our family. He is supposed to be a beagle/terrier. Right now he is about 20 pounds, but will probably get into the 30 pound range. He seems pretty nice and has a good temperament. I am not used to having a dog - it has been about 2 years. And, I am not used to training a dog!! But, every day gets a little better and I get a little fonder of him... In fact, he has not had any accidents in over a week!! Seems my screaming at him is helping!!

How lucky we are...

Since this whole blog thing is new, I think it is appropriate to introduce myself. I am Nancy - 32, living just north of Chicago, married to Dave and mom to 2 beautiful little girls - Erin & Evelyn. I am sure my little monsters will be the focus of most of my rants.

So, I'll just get to them right away. They are almost 2 years old and I just love this age!! They find such joy and amazement in everything - it is really fun to see the world through their eyes. Erin is older by a whopping 4 minutes, but she reminds Ev of this just about every moment through her bossiness and attempts to run the family. It is my opinion she thinks she is the mayor of our family. She loves the color yellow - everything is yellow!! She also loves being outside, reading, playing basketball and taking baths. Evelyn is just a total goof-ball. She loves being read to, climbing, doing crafts and going to the park. They are just the sweetest, funniest girls in the world.

We've Got a BLOG?!?!

I can't imagine I'll have enough to say to run my own entire blog, but think it might be a fun way to keep in touch with family and friends - especially those that don't live close. I also think it will document my precious girls - and that's pretty cool.

Maybe I can convince my husband to contribute!! I am sure that won't be a tough sell!

So, this first entry is really just a test to see if I can figure out how to do this!!

More to come...
NJD