Mini Me's

Melts my heart (before I've cleaned up their mess and saw the broken hangers) that the girls love to dress up in my clothes. They sure know me to a tee with my scarves! And glasses.

Tricky tricky time!

Halloween was fun. We braved the sprinkles and went up and down our long street and had a blast!

Ava was Silvermist, who for those that don't know, is Tinkerbell's blue fairy friend. Emma wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake again and I think she rocked it better than last year!

We went to a few fun Halloween events where the girls wore their 'official' costumes and another where Ava was Alice in Wonderland and Emma was a slice of pizza. (She wasn't thrilled about the pizza thing until she realized she was itchy and could run and jump!)

Hope everyone had a fun and safe night last night!

When I grow up....

Words

Kids say some funny things. :) We all know that. Enough said.

Here's a recent conversation the girls recently had:

Emma: Goo, goo, ga, ga!!!! (In her pretend baby talk.)

Ava: That is not speak word, Emma!!!

The many faces of dress-up

Dress up as a superstar! Princess! Mommy! The possibilities are endless!

Another sort of princess crown

Lately it has been freezing!!!! And our new house is freezing with the hardwood floors and poor Windows or insulation.

So after baths, the girls get a new kind of princess crown! :)

Art project

I am happy to announce that I have completed (almost) my first art project with the girls! :) I have had this grand plan to hang up their artwork as they come home with it from day care since the first day it started collecting in my drawers, walls, fridge doors, etc. I came across a photo of a string of photos perfectly placed with a decorated clothes pin that zig-zagged across a wall and fell in love with it!

I have to state that I was so thrilled when I was able to lead this project with patience and without paint everywhere! And I did!

Knock, knock

Had a fun ride home yesterday when Ava and Emma busted out with knock-knock jokes??!?!!!!!!!!!! :) It was the most precious and funniest thing I have ever heard! They went a little something like this:

Ava: Knock, knock
Emma: Hoo there
Ava: Orange juice
Emma: Orage ju hoo
Ava: Orange juice for everybody!

Emma: Na, na
Ava: Who's thereeee???!!!
Emma: Appey ju
Ava: Apple juice for everybody!!!

3 going on ... 11, 12? 15??

Having a 3 year old in the house, and a 2 year old in the house..... and having just celebrated their big day-- I have also celebrated the fact that I now fully understand a phrase I've heard all of my life.

'She's 5 going on 16!!!!!!!'
'Wait until she's 16, she will think she's 24!'

Yes, we're there. Ava is now 3 going on 13. Full-on attitude, hitting, kicking, and a charming little bugger! We have had to reinforce the time-outs and the 1's, 2's and the 3's... but haven't had to get to 3 in a while. She's already put herself in time-out.

Now Emma, who is 2 going on 3.... she's still her sweet, quiet self.

But she follows Ava everywhere and does exactly the thing that Ava just did. We're in a world of trouble.

And if I'm disciplining Ava, or Emma, the other will come at me with: "Don't yell at my sister Emma! She's my best friend!!!!!!!!!!" with the meaniest, little puppy dog mad face, you ever did see!

'Didn't your mama teach you not to stare?'

What's up with the people at the grocery store that just stare at you when your child is having a tantrum? Why do they stare? And stare even harder when you just ignore it?? Especially with those mommies with one child who sits perfectly in their cloth covered shopping cart???

Take yesterday... we scored one of those carts with the pretend cars in the front that Ava calls "hers" and insist that people are borrowing them when we can't find one for ourselves.

Well, both girls go in and start to pretend driving. Then there goes the pushing, Emma's feet on the chair which is pinching Ava's leg, the screaming and then the crying and then the hair pulling.

If I was another parent and my kids were grown, I would give that mother (me) and reassuring smile or nod. But no. People just stare.

And maybe I'm doing things wrong. Maybe I shouldn't ignore them after the 50th time Emma has pinched Ava's arm. But I do, because in life, you have to learn to sort minor problems out like that.

Or just go and get them a cookie from the bakery that will save you 5 minutes of scream-free noise.

Music babies.

My dad's side of the family is very musical. He plays the drums and played the trumpet in high school. Each one of my brother and sister and I played an instrument in middle school. My girls have that. They have the musical ear and they have the beat down for groovin'.

'hibernation'

And mine are no exception! :)

As picking the kids up from day care tonight, I was instructed to talk about 'hibernation' with the girls since they were discussing it today. Yeah, hibernation. OUR one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half year olds are being taught the meaning of hibernation.

So I was talking about it in the car during the drive home.

Me: "So you were talking about hibernation today at school? Do bears and squirrels go into hibernation?"
Ava: "NO!"
Me: "Do mommies go into hibernation?"
Emma: "YEAH!" with sure confidence in her answer.

I love my kids. Without knowing it-- they made my whole week!

Nesting mama birds

A reminder for both my girls!

When I was pregnant with both of them... we had two birds that nested on our patios. People told me that birds do that when someone is pregnant.

With Ava-- I really didn't believe it and just was trying to protect the bird and the egg from our cat!

With Emma, the same thing happened (note we were at a new apartment) it was even more special because I knew it was Martin's mom, Hilda. She passed away right after we found out I was pregnant with her so I knew it was her little spirit or soul showing me her presence.

A very special tidbit to share.

Two under two-and-a-half

Hi, my name is Amory and my husband's name is Martin, and we have a two-and-a-half-year-old; and a one-and-a-half-year-old. WOW! How did that happen?!

Here's an update on our amazing girls' stats!!!

Ava

You are amazing! You are finally potty trained to the max. Sleep in big girl underwear and have zero accidents during the day (we are working on the nighttime). You are in a big girl bed since you just figured out how to climb out of yours just a few weeks ago! The transition was a lot easier than I had expected! And I want to thank Emma for that, because when you were trying to abuse your freedom-- you'd just innocently open the door softy and shut it softy. :)

You talk so much! Show and vocalize great concern for others and others' feelings. My favorites are you say "thank you," "you're welcome," "sorry," etc. without any prompting. And you say "bless you" when someone sneezes-- one of my favorites. Another one of my favorites is when I ask Emma something and you follow with "you okay, Emma?! You okay???" You are shy around others, but aren't shy to give hugs when prompted to. You LOVE your grandparents and great-grandparents. You and your Nana have a great bond too. Well, both your Papas (Papa Ouchie-wah-wah and Papa Abuelo), you have great bonds with too.

We are working on clean-up time and not physically fighting with your sister.

Emma

You are amazing too!!! You have grown so much in the past six months. In the past month!!!! You say words, but it's still in baby worded talk. You have mastered "MINE" and "NO!" though. You follow and do everything Ava does. You try and put your shoes on when we are leaving. It's just amazing what you do!!!

You LOVE animals. You stop dead in your tracks when you see another dog when we're getting into the car. You love your Lucy and kitty. You love your Papas and have grown closer to your Nana. You don't like it when I leave you places.... like you are going through separate anxiety again at a later age. You run and you are fast!!! You really understood Christmas-- for what a one-and-a-half-year-old can understand. You point out Santa and say it over and over again. And you pulled tiny little pieces of wrapping paper and handed them off on every, single present. It was fun to watch. :)

We are working on not pulling hair and saying "please" and thank you." :)

Photo credit: Elevenorchids (They do AMAZING work. Check them out at Elevenorchids.com)

Mine

Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine minemine minemineminemineminemine!!!!!!!!

Sorry had to get that out because that's all I hear nowadays. From both of them.

Emma just says it to say it. Everything is hers. Wait, everything is Ava's. Now-- actually it's mommies and daddies. :) Especially our phones and the remote control.

Santa Claus is coming.. to town!

Sooooooo... the girls met Santa.

And yeah. They were cool with him until it was time to sit on his lap for picture time! :) When we approached the line, it was empty and Santa was standing at the front and was very soft spoken and gentle with his movements towards or away from the girls. Ava gave a soft "Hi Santa" and Emma stayed put in my arms!

Then it was picture time....

You are welcome for this laugh! Classic photo. Some parents are butt-hurt about these photos, but I think it's hilarious! Hilarious because they were okay with him until they were put on his lap for 2.3 seconds. We will laugh about this every year when we take it out of the Christmas boxes. :) My poor babies!!!!!!

The girls were even featured in a few local news media outlets, including: Danville Express, San Ramon Express and TriValley Views.

Perfect mommies

I follow a great blog, OMG Mom who I was introduced by one of my old coworkers. I stalk this blog because it makes me laugh. You should stalk it too. She's hilarious and real.

Today or the other day, she talked about perfect mommies and how people talk about how perfect their lives are when in fact, aren't they lying?? We all know these people. They've always been this way.

I am not perfect. No one is. And no one needs to post things on the Internet trying to reflect that their lives are perfect. It shows through like a sore thumb!!!!!!!!! Right?!

These mommy liars are the ones that say there child doesn't cry in public. Sleeps through the night at one week (okay maybe this happens, but really?), etc.

Our girls cry in public. Well of course they do! It's embarrassing! I remember specifically the other day in Safeway, Ava pulled a Rolo candy bar off of the shelf. And I said "no!" And she cried. Then she started to hit Emma. While they are both in the shopping cart with the pretend car in the front.. I could not access them. And I wasn't going to leave the line. And I wasn't going to buy the candy bar because I just bought one for them the other day (Ava justified it by telling me she's been peeing on the potty and I said ok).

Well this sweet soul of a mother of a teenager boy was ahead of us being checked out. I just let them cry and hit each other because they were stuck in between the candy and the check-out belt wall thingy. That teenager was starring at me!!!!! He had no clue why they were crying and really has no clue about being a father or about kids or whatever--right?! In my mind I was thinking-- oh my gosh, she must think I'm an awful mother because she's letting her kids cry and hit each other and scream. But no. After she got her receipt, she gave me a sweet smile and in her eyes told me I was doing the right thing with a reassuring look.

There needs to be more mothers like this. Because it happens. And when they are young like our girls are, you are raising them to be respectful humans. It's the groundwork. Right?

Cheers to screaming babies! Next time this happens, and you see it, give the mother or father a reassuring smile. They need it more than you know!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I hope everyone has a great day with beautiful weather and delicious food!

Beautiful California weather mid-November.

'Picture perfect' photos

So, you know those families that dress their kids to the T's with their cute matching/semi-matching holiday shirts. Hair is perfect. Nice camera in tow. ?? Well that's not me or my kids. I tried! I tried! I tried to get them to smile together widely at my camera earlier this week at the pumpkin patch. But it didn't work. And that's okay! I don't need to send just one picture in my holiday cards-- I need to send two! :) Two because I didn't get one shot of my girls smiling together on top of the hay barrels with pumpkins in their hands, proudly showing their matching T's. :)

But they are cute. I took some very cute pictures of my girls at the pumpkin patch! And a lot of them show their true personality which is probably way better than some professional, matchy-matchy, big smiles in the same direction, photo!

Enjoy!

 

'du chu'

You should know that my husband is a HUGE Chicago Bears fan. No, he didn't grow up in the windy city. He's been a fan since they won the Superbowl in 1985-- am I correct, babe? Well he is continuing the tradition of being a Bears fan onto his daughters. Just shy of a 8 months ago or so, when Ava started talking, he wanted her to say "Go Bears!" in which she said, "du chu!" Now being a big 2-year-old girl, she can say "Go Bears!" with her little arms up straight in the air. It's precious. Emma follows along and can't yet say "Go Bears!" and maybe sometime soon before the season is over, she'll be able to say "du chu chu?!"

Ava: "Go Bears!"

"ROAR!" says Emma.

Two generations of Bears fans.