On their own

I love when they hold hands :)



Especially when they do it on their own!!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sensory and paint fun!

This week I have tried a few new activities with Max and Claire.  Tuesday we played with pom poms and pipe cleaners.  They liked the pom poms the best.  They loved how soft they were and would rub them on their faces.  It was also fun using measuring spoons to scoop them out of the egg carton.

They didn't get how to put the pipe cleaners in the holes.

This activity lasted at least 25 minutes!! That's a success in my books!

Wednesday we tried bathtub paint.  It is super easy to make.
1 cup clear baby shampoo
3.5 Tbs cornstarch
food coloring of choice
I just did red and green
We did this activity close to their normal bath time, so when they were finished and ready to clean up, they could just take a bath.  It made for a quick bubble bath.

 They were pretty timid at first, just feeling the paint with their fingers, but towards the end they were decorating their body and had almost painted one side of the tub!

They were not happy when I took the paint away, but tears turned to smiles when they saw all the bubbles the paint made!!

This has been a great week for us! not including today Monday-Wednesday we were tantrum free! and Max was happy and all smiles.  Made it so much easier on me, especially since Justin was out of town. They have almost gone two weeks with sleeping past 6:30 - which is huge for us.  Today they both slept til 7:15!!! On days they wake up past 7, we take one nap and on days before 7, they take two naps.  Ultimately, they are happier with two naps - which is why today they both were super cranky before lunch.  

Went to their open house for Parent's Morning Out last night.  They start next Tuesday and we are all super excited.  

Chicken verdict

The whole chicken cooked in the crock pot turned out delicious!! I served with kale and spinach sautéed in coconut oil and garlic.




It was very tender.
The best part is I have at least 3-4 servings left, making for quick and easy lunches and dinner!
Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trying new things

I'm tired of being slack and I am bored of our summer routine.  This weekend, I read a few new blogs and got some inspiration for new foods and new activities to do with Max and Claire.  I have been slack about doing a lot of hands on activities with M and C bc most of the ones I tried would last a few minutes and create a lot of mess.  Then I found this blog.  She has a ton of great learning and hands on activities.  I went to Target to get a few supplies today and will have to get more when I can shop alone.  They did, however, do one of the art activities I wanted to try at The Children's Museum today.

This activity used different types of circles: empty yogurt cups, straws and paper towel rolls.  They really enjoyed it and did a pretty good job of staying clean.   They did try a few times to stick their hands in to "finger paint".
I bought some pipe cleaners and pom poms at Target and look forward to an activity with those!

So food... like I mentioned in a previous post, I would like to have a cleaner diet.  Admittedly, in the past I have just looked at fat, calories and fiber and in the past two years, I've looked for partially hydrogenated oils and HFCS.  I've never really payed attention to suger and little to protein.  Until now.
I was surprised with the amount of sugar that was in a lot of M and C's food - especially their organic yogurts that I thought were "so healthy".

Yesterday I went to the grocery store with a good friend who helped me navigate the store and read labels.   So far, so good today!  I was especially happy with my new lunch!

It satisfied my need for sweet, crunch and salty.  Carrots, dollop of hummus, grapes and tuna salad on a wasa cracker.  I made the tuna sans mayo and instead, mixed it with a tbs of plain greek yogurt and a tbs of garlic hummus. It was soooo good!!  I have also snacked on some plain popcorn.  I'm not sure where I read about it, but it was super easy.  Brown lunch bag, popcorn kernels and a microwave! no butters or oils.  I did add salt.... gotta have some taste :)

And... dinner is in crockpot.
I saw this recipe for cooking a whole chicken in a crockpot.  It will (hopefully) be perfect for this week since Justin will be out of town til Thursday :(

It's as easy as cut up onions, spices and crockpot!  Hopefully it turns out as good as it smells :)

19 Months....and two days!

So, what's new... I'm late again.  The babes are 19 big, sassy, fun, crazy, whiny, giggly, and tiring months old!

I feel like I just wrote about their 18 month post.  Time flies and it freaks me out that we are only five months away from being 2! 2?!  They are as busy as ever.  Music is still #1 on their favorite list.  They love when Justin puts his Iphone on the docking station to play his music, Claire bobs her head to music in the car and if the tv is on, they love the them songs to any show.  They will stop instantly and dance.  I love it! Claire has moves like her Aunt Darcy.
This past week they have painted three times - and it was actually successful - meaning no paint in the mouth!  They are also enjoying playing with sidewalk chalk.

 There are fun to watch.  One minute they are hugging each other and the next pushing.  If Claire doesn't see Max for a few minutes, she will look up to me and say "where Max?"  They don't like to be separated for long.  When we are at new places they stick close together.  If Claire is crying, Max will look around for her paci and bring it to her! (and vice versa)  If one wakes up before the other, they want to go to the other's crib to wake them up.
Sleep:  This past week has been great (I'm probably jinxing myself now)  They have been going down around 7:15 and sleeping til 6:45-7! We still take two naps - each usually lasting 1.5 hrs.  Tried taking one nap one day and they only napped 2 hrs and were cranky up to that point.  We will try again later..I'm in no rush to get rid of morning nap!
Food: Claire is a pretty good eater and will try everything I give her.  Max is very picky.  He turns away anything green or beans.  They usually end up on claire's tray or on the floor.  I can get them to each have a smoothie in the morning that is full of spinach and fruit.

This chubby cheek girl melts my heart.  She is so sweet, smart and hilarious.  She's my little helper.  Claire is very good at listening and following directions.  She is starting to mimic what we say... time to start watching what we say!  She has been putting two and three words together.  "where go?" "where Ma" "Mommy go" "thank you mommy" "love you mommy"  She has also added lots of new words to her vocab.  My favorite is when she says "happy" with a huge smile on her face. and my funny girl has learned about bugs.  I must have said something or she has seen me step on a bug.  When we are walking out the door, and they are patiently waiting for me to lock the door, she will see a bug and say "bug" or "b" and try to step on it.  It makes Max laugh hysterically!...which in turn eggs her on even more.  She loves to put on a show!
I love how she recognizes people - especially her Trevor!  Whenever we get in the car to go somewhere, she asks, "trevor?" So cute!

Shoes: size 5.5
Diaper: 4
Clothes: mostly 18-24, but can still wear some of her 12-18
Loves: dancing, music, animals, playing at children museum, shoes, choo choos,  and eating

Max, my sweet Mama's boy!  Buds can be the sweetest baby ever.  He gives the best hugs and loves to cuddle.  He has become more obsessed with his paci and his "bunny"  He wants it all the time.  They are supposed to leave it in their crib, but lately it has gone in public places more than I'd care to admit.  He has also hit terrible twos and it's awful.  He throws trantrums 3-4 times a day, sometimes more.  Full out kicking and screaming.  Sometimes I don't even know why.  I'm learning to ignore him, but it is very hard.

Max is huge!  He is probably 32 pounds and very hard to carry...it's especially hard to carry both of them.  He talks a lot, but is hard to understand.  He is still our little engineer.  Loves to mess with knobs, take things apart and put them back together...or just leave it a mess!
Shoes: 7.5 Extra wide or 8W
Diaper: 5
Clothes: 24 months or 2T
Loves: Mommy, dancing, music, trucks, trains, bubble bath, the children's museum and shoes

Max and Claire are so lucky to have such great friends. Yesterday we met one of my friends and her son at The Natural Science Center. It has a mini zoo, petting zoo, great inside play area as well as dinosaurs and rock exhibits And next summer they will have an aquarium!

We were up close with a tiger - probably the closest I've ever been! Like - paw on glass window. Quite a show for the kids. They actual got a little scared. Then we saw the monkeys! They were definitely the favorite :) I must admit, I was getting excited when the monkey started walking around!!






Claire's reaction! This is her new face she does when she gets excited!! It cracks us up!






When I told Claire we were going to see a friend, she immediately said "Trevor?" this girl is smitten with her "Trevor". We don't see him yesterday, but we did meet up with him and some other friends at a local toy store for music. This was our first time going and already excited to go back. Nigel, the music guy, is very entertaining. Max and Claire were pretty shy at first. Then Claire went to sit on Trevor's moms lap so she could be with her buddy!!
After we left there, we hit up the juice shop - a local smoothie shop.



First time having their own smoothie!



With Claire's Trevor!



Group shot!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Buddies

Peanut Butter Cookies with a twist!

Yesterday I came across these cookies on Pinterest.  They are made with a secret ingredient.... no butter, no oil, no eggs and no flour *garbanzo beans!  They were surprisingly good!

I have also (thanks to the Blog world and Pinterest) found the 100 Days of Real Food blog. I have become obsessed with reading her post and have gone back almost two years.  Recently I have been trying to do a better job of watching what we eat - not in fat content, but in wholesome ingredients.  I have a lot to learn!  I was thinking of trying to do 10 days of real food - and the best part - Justin is on board.  This is going to be a challenge.  I  am up for trying all kinds of new things. He, however, is very picky and not a huge fan of wheat flavors, veggies or fruit...hmmm... this is going to take lots of planning and research on my part.
If and when we do this, I will try to document as much as I can!

10 under 10

Saturday morning I tagged along with a few (awesome) girls for a run.  They are training for a marathon and were running 17 miles.  I knew going in I wasn't going to do 17 - I was thinking I would do seven or eight.  Turns out I did 10!!  I could have stopped around seven, but I was feeling good so I kept going.  Once I hit seven, I was determined to make it my longest distance run ever!  Not only did I run 10, I ran each one under 10 minutes :)  I kind of wished I had stayed with them to see if I could have completed 17.
I am pretty sure I am signing up for the Thanksgiving 1/2 marathon in Atlanta.  Hopefully the girls will let me join in on their weekly long runs and I'll be ready in no time!

Flashbacks

Tonight as I was transferring my iPhone pics to our new mac,I was in shock with how quickly I forgot what it was like with twin babies. I sat and watched so many videos from the early months. Claire noticing her hand for the first time, first solids, max and Claire laughing at each other, Claire being a wild woman (that hasn't changed), so many sweet coos, first time crawling and walking! I had tears in my eyes. Those days seemed to never end and now I barely remember them. I think it may have given me baby fever ;)

Moving on.... Today we went to a splash park for the first time. It was so much fun and the best part - free!!






Claire and her boyfriend, Trevor!



Already looking forward to our next visit!

Oh - have to share our dinner. I had made the kids mini pizzas on a sandwich thin and they tasted so good. Justin and I had already planned on having tilapia so I just added the pizza topping to the fish!



I mixed 1.5 tbs low fat cream cheese, 3-4 tbs pizza sauce and a few dashes of oregano then topped with fresh spinach and a little bit of Italian cheese.
It was so good!!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pancake Squares

I love pancakes.  But every time I make them at home, they turn out funny - either too greasy, flat, or just not  what I was expecting.  Always a flop.  So when I found this recipe for pancake squares on Pinterest, I knew I had to try!

I followed the recipe and added a tsp of vanilla.  I tried to stick to the recipe to make sure I didn't mess it up. 

They turned out great and were so tasty.  I put a little bit of butter and maple syrup.  I also tried a piece with honey and it was delicious too!

Now that I know this is a good recipe, I'll try some add ins next time. I am thinking whole wheat flour, chia seeds, cinnamon, and even chocolate chips :)

Just a little tired...

We survived our second "drive through the night" trip.  After 500 plus miles, we are home from Long Beach Island, NJ.  And as usual, had a blast and wished just a few more days!  There are not enough hours in the day to do all the fun things we wanted to do.  We did, however, have lots of fun on the beach, playing cornhole, jumping in rain puddles, 2nd annual family shoot, and even a little flip cup with the adults!

Flip cup.... lots of fun and so many laughs!

Max and Claire know when mommy and daddy stay up late having too much fun....they always decide to wake up as early as possible the next morning!  They didn't sleep past 6am one morning.  At home it's not a big deal, because usually it is just me.... but this week there was a minimum of eight other people in the house.  

Love this! Daddy's girl!

walking down the beach with Grandma!

Max wanted to play cornhole too!

can you tell it was a bit humid?!

We had so much fun doing family pictures last year, we had to do it again!  I love how these turned out!  Now I just have to go through the 100+ that were taken and pick out my favorites to frame!

Love this sweet face!  He looks so BIG in this picture!

The Whole Gang!

There was a pretty big storm on Thursday, leaving lots of puddles on the street.  Max, Claire and their cousin had so much fun splashing around.

Already looking forward to next year's trip!  I am so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws and their extended families!  Many of Justin's cousins have kids around the same age.  Max and Claire were able to meet five little cousins this week!

Let the unpacking begin.. :(

LBI

We are here! We made the long, 10 hour drive. It wasn't as smooth as we had imagined. We started the trip at their bedtime (7:30) thinking they would sleep the whole night. Not so much. They didn't fall asleep until 9, then woke up at 11:30 when we switched drivers. They were awake until almost 2! We finally arrived at 5am and stayed asleep in the car until 5:45 so we wouldn't wake up the rest of the house.

They have had so much fun playing with their cousins! Yesterday we took them to fantasy island. Max was not a huge fan of the rides.

















Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone