Global warming or seasonal confusion?

We had summer in April:

And now we have Christmas in May:

Is this global warming or just seasonal confusion?

Sowing the seeds of love...

We did it. We planted seeds for the first time ever. Truly, I have never planted a garden before. No, really. I never have. Yes, I'm in my 30s. No, I've never planted seeds. Call the garden police.

These are the vegetables the girls & I decided to plant (& one flower chosen by Sofia):

These are the vegetables the girls will eat:

---0---

Ergo, I will probably be eating all the veggies by myself (due to Chef Garry's maddening schedule since they are taking his sous chef away (I know, WTF budget cuts suck and this better not last too long because he certainly won't if this does) . . . On the up side, I should be pretty healthy in body by summer's end . . . in mind, I'm not so sure!

I think we were a little nutty with the choices we made . . . The girls chose the veggies based on the look of them. They usually don't eat any of those & to be honest, I'm not a big fan of green beans myself. I'm hoping they will decide to eat them when they pick the veggies out of the dirt themselves.

So it was fun to plant them in those cute little pods . . . But this brings me to the problem I didn't think of before we planted in these sprout houses . . . I'm going to have to transplant them & we don't have a garden! We have a little flower spot from the previous owners (they had planted bulbs so every year we have some lovely flowers come up), but there's no room for cucumbers & such (and we had a slight fungus problem last year).

Has anyone ever seen anything like that before?

Anyway, so we added the water, planted the seeds . . .

And we already have sprouts . . .

So . . . I better come up with a transplanting plan soon . . .

Big Trucks & Soccer

Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm raising twin girls or twin boys...

Most girls like princesses, fairies, dresses & tea parties.

My girls like big trucks, Batman, Transformers & roughhousing.

Not that I'm complaining. I think it's pretty cool to buck the stereotypes & be your own person.

So one of the things we did last month was go to a Touch a Truck event.

Here's one they liked b/c of the "pokey" rims. I personally find them scary!

Again, they always love the tractors, too.

(And yes, that is a garbage truck behind Sofia. The driver was disappointed that the event was on a dirt lot because he had really wanted to turn the truck on & show how the truck worked -- My girls were disappointed about that, too! They always want to know how things work which is very cool).

There was also a Mickey Mouse Mobile which they thought was awesome, too.

Here are the pictures of one of their soccer games, too. They really love it...I just wish the games were a little later than 8am...

Flat Stanley & an Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the girls' first soccer game! Woo hoooo! They had a great time & scored many goals. U-6 soccer is pretty funny & there are no goalies. They pretty much just chase & kick the ball all over & in & out of the field. In the beginning of the "game" we dropped the ball & everyone just stared at it. But then they all got into it & had a great time. As you can see, I have no pictures b/c I volunteered to be assistant coach (!) and was pretty much running up & down the field with the ball & the kids the whole time. Chef Garry was there, but he was in a 4-hours-of-sleep-induced fog & so we were pretty fortunate that he was there & standing!! He is absolutely an awesome, dedicated & supportive dad.

Soooo...since I don't have pictures of that, I will bring you back to last weekend when we went to an Easter Egg Hunt & brought Flat Stanley to the beach.

Have you heard of Flat Stanley? He was in the news in 2008 b/c a child sent him to President (well, then presidential candidate) Obama & Obama took some time to have fun with Flat Stanley! Anyway, if someone sends you one, you have to dress him up, take him places & write about where he went. Cousin Jack sent us a Flat Stanley & it was quite a homework project! Of course, the first thing we had to do was photocopy Flat Stanley & make him a twin! Then the girls drew clothes on him (including underwear...) & we brought him to the beach (where else would we bring him?!).

We took him (well, them) to one of the beach areas made entirely of shells & Ava & Sofia totally enjoyed that.

They didn't think they were very comfortable lying on shells...so they tried.

They found it uncomfortable, too.

This beach also has huge rocks you can climb on & someone left a very cool rock sculpture on one big rock. (At this point mommy was in charge of holding Flat Stanley & his twin b/c Sofia & Ava wanted to take their favorites up on the high rock).

That weekend we also participated in an Easter Egg Hunt...I let the girls find as many chocolate eggs as they could...BUT...I traded out the chocolate eggs for mnm's...I think it's gross to eat chocolate eggs that people stepped on & dogs might have peed on! But then, sometimes I do lean towards the germaphobe end of the spectrum...

So that was last weekend's adventure...Let's see what this one has in store for us!

Ribbit.

How big brother & little sisters have fun around here . . . That was supposed to be a container for stuffed animals. The girls decided that they fit better in there. This was Sofia's turn but both girls were pretty funny!

A first step towards fame and fortune...

Well, my girls have taken their first step towards fame & fortune & supporting the 'rents...

What?

It could happen...Some talent scout could see the cute little girls in the second row who look just like each other & think they're perfect for a new tv show...Or they could see that beautiful lady in the chairs wearing the blue shirt & jeans with her legs crossed & think, "She's a star! Look at the way she's holding those coats on her lap. We must get her for our blockbuster movie!"

I was already a star in the newspaper 10 years ago...

Well, more precisely, my gorgeous but very hot dog, Bella & my hideous sneakers were.

Those beauties might have deterred the talent scouts. I never got a call from a modeling agency, either.

And 12 years ago Garry was in the paper -- not for his chefly duties but for shooting pool...

We didnt get any calls for that either. But no worries - our time will come...

Is it lame that we've saved these hometown newspaper pictures of ourselves and still think it's super cool?

That picture of Bella in the newspaper made me think of how different she is now 10 years later... Her favorite thing to do is sleep in the sun...

The girls put some stuffed animals with her to keep her company.

A few months to catch up on...

My apologies for a lack of posts...No excuses. We sure have had a busy few months, so let's just get right to it. It's all about the kids, of course!

In November, Aunt Mary, Uncle Gregg, Jack & Kate flew out to have a 2nd TG & it was so beautiful to see the cousins together! Wish we lived closer...

In December, we went Christmas Tree shopping (we went looking for a farm, but it was really just someone's backyard...weird, but it worked for us) and decorated the tree. Notice that Xavier took the tree "farm" picture b/c the girls are almost (haha, not really almost, but they're getting there) as tall as I am, so I do not tower over them like he does now!

And of course we had to get the required picture with Santa...No offense is intended here, but . . . dude - he was scary.

They had a train ride there so the girls recovered from the trauma of sitting on "Santa's" lap.

I promise I won't ever make them do that again.

On another note, Ava & Sofia decided that they wanted to sleep in the same bed for a little while. I had to take pictures because they look like such beautiful angels when they are sleeping. I think Sofia sensed the flash or something b/c her brow became a little furrowed...

December also brought us our first snowstorm,

But then, as usual with Southern New England weather, the snow melted so of course the girls had to get on their trikes & ride because they were born to be wild.

And then it got even warmer so we went to our favorite big beach that we don't swim at.



And then, this being Southern New England - you guessed it - it snowed again & this time A LOT more than last time. I shoveled the end of the driveway at 10pm that night so Chef Daddy could drive in the driveway (we have a truck, but I don't know if it could have made it over the 4 foot piles the snowplow made - although I know he would have had a lot of fun trying...). I didn't take a picture of what I was shoveling, but I thought our front door looked really pretty, so there it is.

The next day Chef Daddy (using his ingenious creativity) made our little hill bigger with the slide so the girls could sled & they had a blast!

In other news, unfortunately Bella started showing even worse side effects of prednisone & her skin started calcifying...We are now walking a fine line between lowering the dose to get her skin better, but keeping it high enough so her body can still make platelets. She is definitely showing her age with the "walk & plop" but other than that she is still an angel and still seems to be enjoying life.

Christmas was a lot of fun and the girls enjoyed Christmas morning at home & the day at Nonni's. I have not been taking many pictures, though, so don't have much!

The best gifts from Christmas (besides the Leapsters, of course) were the decorate your own mugs. Those mugs got a lot of use in January - mmmmm hot chocolate!

Finally, February! We went up to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year Parade & it was awesome! The girls loved seeing the Dragons dance & the Lions take the offerings from the stores.

(there's Grandma in the red pants having a blast, too :o) )

And the best part, Chef Daddy caught the lucky orange from the Lion's mouth...One handed...With Ava in his arms!! He is my hero :o) It is sitting on our back door step (the door we use most often) & is bringing us good luck for the year.

Truth be told, I think Ava & Sofia's favorite part was going to choose some Chinese pastries to bring home...

One last picture - they were playing outside after another snowfall & they are getting so independent that instead of coming running to me when Sofia's boot fell off, Ava tried to help her sister get it back on. They are so adorable together & I am loving watching them grow.