Thanksgiving 2011

This was the first year we were not surrounded by our family on Thanksgiving Day. I missed my mom's drunken sweet potatoes, our family dip and hugging everyone's neck.... BUT ... it was wonderful to stay in jammie's all day and eat the catered food we ordered.

We did a lot of snuggling:

And we (and by we I mean me and Ruby) did a lot of laundry:

We finally got our washer and dryer hooked back up after our big remodel - more on that later.

Our day was followed by a weekend with the Texas Grandparents. The love between my kids and their grandparents makes me all mushy inside. Hassie Clare asked me how long it would take her to ride her bike to Texas cause she wants to visit her Glenda. One of Quinn's classmates said she has a Grandmother that lives in Texas and Quinn said, "Ohh ... you have a Glenda too?" And Grandpa saved Jamie from having a nervous breakdown by helping him replace a gazillion lights on the Christmas Tree. So this Thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things but mostly for my family ..... near and far.

My Little Pilgrims

Quinn is thankful for:
my whole family
my pets
my cousins
my aunts and uncles
my teachers
my friends at school
my neighbors
that I'm not in heaven yet

Hassie Clare is thankful for:
my brothers and sisters
that I was your baby
Ruby and all my family
that I want to go to Hawaii
that I got to meet Olivia's cats that got smashed in the garage door
my ear wax
having food and that we have God to pray too

Facts about Thanksgiving according to 5 year olds: 
Pilgrims and Indians ate Thanksgiving feast for 3 weeks.
Pilgrims came from Plymothtown.
They came from England on the Mayflower which is kind of like a ship.
The first thing they saw in America was Plymouth Rock - a big stone rock where they always go to pray.
The Indians shooted deer and animals with their bows and arrows that they made with feathers and sticks. They used the skin from the animals to make teepee's and paper.
The first Indian the Pilgrims met was named Squat Toe.
The Pilgrams and the Indians had to wear the same clothes every day and they weren't always comfortable.
The Indians helped the Pilgrims build a house out of logs.
There wasn't a grocery store, Walmart or Target so they had to hunt for their food.

Thanksgiving Feast at Sacred Heart - PK

LBH - nights to remember

As you can tell, some effort is going into more blog posts. The end of the year is upon us and I realized that the hard-bound memory book I have printed out every year full of all the blog entries and pics is going to be super slim this year! So I'm beefing up my efforts ... I would hate the girls to not know how awesome their life was in 2011!

Do you ever shut your eyes and daydream about your "safe" place? The place in your mind that you go to whenever you need to escape? The place where nothing bad can happen and all is right with the world? My safe place has changed a few times throughout the years and as of last weekend I have a new safe place.

Jamie was out of town so the girls and I decided to invite Nana over for a slumber party. The girls picked out pizza rolls and bagel bites for dinner and Nana brought the popcorn for the movie. The four of us, 3 generations, were cuddled up in my bed. Bodies touching, sharing body heat while linked together and I thought ... this is a little bit of heaven (LBH). The feeling of comfort, thankfulness and love filled my entire body. From now on, when I need to close my eyes and take a trip to my "safe" place, I will travel back in time to this night, to my bed where I got to spend an evening laughing, snuggling and sharing secrets with my mom and daughters.

The girls were watching the backs of their eyelids by 7:30.

Quinnie likes to sleep with her BB around her neck.  Sounds safe huh???

BFF's 4 EVER

We are breaching uncharted territory around here lately. Suddenly my baby girls are insanely independent, with strong opinions about everything. I've had to take a step back from my smothering ways because it obviously doesn't work for them anymore. Snap.

So, I'm assuming a new motherly role. I haven't figured out what that is yet but I'm sure it will come to me soon. Right now I'm digging deep into my soul to find patients. Like this morning when Quinn tried on 16 white socks that are exactly the same because she could not find the one that fit just perfectly. And cried hysterically because if she doesn't find the perfect sock her entire day will be miserable. Or when I find clothes that Hassie Clare has hidden in her pillow case because she wants to wear them again when her hair is fixed a certain way.

They do cartwheels everywhere and they constantly sing at all times if they are not sleeping or arguing with me.  They have become insanely protective of each other....which I like but they are taking it to a whole new level.  If one of them cries, the other cries. If one of them is being punished, the other one is clawing her way at the punisher. When one of them decides she doesn't like cheese, the other one suddenly doesn't like cheese. When I threaten to take their toys away for whatever reason they say they don't care because they have each other to play with. Their beds are in a "L" shape. So the head on HC's bed touches the head of Quinn's bed. Sometimes that is not close enough for them so they squeeze together in the same toddler bed to sleep ... yes that is right, my 5 year olds are still in toddler beds - don't judge!

So you get my point. Cute but slightly over the top. I'm reading this book right now that encourages parents of multiples to embrace the uniqueness and closeness that twins share. The book suggests that if you encourage and support their unique bond that they will benefit fully from such a rare relationship. I get it ... totally ... and I enjoy watching their twin bond blossom .... BUT COME ON .... they are only 5. If I feel out numbered now I can't imagine how I will feel when they hit puberty!

Hassie Clare: Her "coolness" is grandiose.

Hassie Clare is the coolest kid I know. She is an "odd-ball", wickedly smart, off the charts fun and has the most loving and caring heart of anyone I have ever met. Raising her is both a challenge and one of my greatest gifts. She has a sense of loyalty that shows she is wise beyond her years. Her little brain never, ever, never stops. EVER.


EVER

I tell her all of the time how much fun it is being her Mom. She always responds in her best Grinch voice with, "Why? Because I'm sooo ... pretty?" The kid is phenomenal and I'm lucky I get to witness it all. She has more compassion for humanity in her little finger then most people have in their entire body. She has inspired me since the beginning of her life. And I have a feeling that she is just getting started on inspiring people!

Quinnie's least favorite time of the year

HALLOWEEN! If it weren't for the large volume of candy she gets to eat around Halloween, she might very well have to be committed. The child is terrified of EVERYTHING Halloween. Except her cute little Strawberry Shortcake costume that I picked out. Well, actually she picked it out from the pics of the costumes I took on my phone because she will not go into Halloween stores OR stores that have any Halloween stuff. Fun times I tell ya.

And year after year I try to do all the things you are suppose to do at Halloween with your kids, such as Hayrides, Halloween party, Trunk or Treat, trick or treating, etc. And year after year I tell myself in a stern voice, "NEVER AGAIN." Quinn is ZERO fun at Halloween. I know this but I fight it .... and I'm not sure why.

She has made small improvements on bravery. She walked up to some houses while trick or treating with the other kids, as long as the other kids were not scary, had masks on or made funny noises AND as long as the houses did not have any decorations up. And she stood in line to ride a hayride but she bolted when it was our turn to get on. Last year she would never have stood in line for a hayride! Baby steps. Of course she spent the entire afternoon curled up in Nana's lap, in broad daylight at their school during trunk of treat because one of the fathers had a scary mask on and someone had a mechanical ghost that moved up and down. And the fun continues.

HC on the other hand would probably LOVE Halloween if her sister didn't freak her out about everything. She talked for a week about how she was going to go on the spooky walk at our friends annual Halloween party. She was so excited. She started hounding her father to take her on the spooky walk as soon as we got to the party. Quinn begged her not to go screaming "ghosts and wolves are going to eat you" and cried hysterically when Hassie Clare and Jamie left to go on the spooky walk. Of course they returned 3 minutes later. She changed her mind before they even crossed the entrance.  Her excuse, "I didn't want to upset Quinnie Ray."

The only thing I would classify as fun was their school Halloween party.... and only because I arranged everything....which meant nothing spooky. We did a couple of cute crafts, ate lots of good food, played a couple of games and called it a day. Quinn was a happy camper!

I can assure you that the cuteness of the pictures do not depict the "lack of fun" being had by Quinn.

Strawberry Shortcake

Teenage Witch (not sure where the teenage thing came from)

All of our girls in their Halloween costume

Trunk or Treating. Quinn had the blanket over her head 88% of the time.

Some things never change ... negotiating / trading candy at Nana's house after trick or treating. Reece's were a big ticket item!

Quinnie and her good friend at school on party day.

Nana helping HC with one of the crafts (have I mentioned that I love the crafts for little ones at Oriental Trading???)

Silly Halloween glasses with all the kids in their class.

Next year I swear we will not ....... ohhhhh who am I kidding. I'll try every year until one year she loves it gosh darn it!

Fall Break - 2011

For the girls first (of many) breaks from school we decided to take a day off from work and head up to Missouri for a long weekend. The late Friday night trip up there was a bit dreadful but listening to the Cardinals win their game on the radio to make in into the playoffs (wildcard position) was awesome.

We enjoyed lots of good time with our BFF's (Hammer Family) on Sat. Paige is walking the St. Jude half marathon with me this year so we did a very, very hilly 5 mile walk through the country Sat. morning. That afternoon we visited a new local winery and the local bar - the lovely new and improved Leslie Depot. And finished the afternoon off with our families, plus a few others, at the Hammer's house for dinner. My girls LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hammer kids. They refer to them as their Missouri Cousins .... which is funny cause they have so many 2nd and 3rd cousins in Missouri that they rarely see. I finally had to break it to them that the Hammers are not connected to us through family, they are connected through us by our hearts and through God (remember the whole Godparent thing). I assured them that they will ALWAYS be in our lives, just like family.

The following day we decided to so something new and adventurous with Maema. Jamie decided on the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. This place is basically an 11 story playground, full of tunnels, caves and spectacular slides. The roof has a ferris wheel, a ton of slides and a bus that tilts over the edge of the building. It is freaking amazing!!!! Of course we didn't take a camera but we snapped a few shots with our phone as we were leaving.

Obviously the City Museum wore Quinnie out!

Afterwards, we drove around downtown trying to come up with a place to eat dinner. We ended up at the most special place in the world to us ... Sundeckers. I didn't know they served food! This is the bar on Lacledes Landing that I meet Jamie at after a Cardinal vs. Cubs game. I was flooded with memories just sitting on the deck looking in at the dance floor (where the magic started:). Then I got a bit sentimental thinking about fate. Had I not been on a girls trip to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals game, had we not gone to the bar across the street from our hotel after the game to celebrate, had there not been a girl in our group named Eileen, had we not been dancing to "Come on Eileen" being played by the one man band, had I not grabbed Jamie out of no where to dance with us, had there not been access to the rooftop of our hotel  .... there would probably not be a Hassie Clare and Quinn.




I can assure you that when we met 12 years ago that we would never in our wildest dreams imagined we would come back someday happily married with 5 year old twins! This is off the subject but take note of the girls demon eyes. The red eye fixer thingy would not even fix them. Hhhummm.  I'm not surprised ... they have been a handful lately.  

 On our last day of fall break, the girls occupied themselves with all of Maema's cool new toys. And I went shopping a Mae-Mart (get it). As always, Maema bought the girls fall/winter clothes. She told me she wasn't going to buy as much this year since the girls wore uniforms to school. She lied. I ended up taking less then a fourth of what she had and they will never have to wear the same thing twice! That woman buys some seriously cute little girl clothes and spoils those little girls rotten!!!!

1st Yearbook Pic

Pre-K

Mrs. Ann's Class

People say it all the time, especially parents, but good God almighty .... time is going by way too fast. When did they get old enough to have their picture in a Yearbook????? 

I have failed to mention that they are now in the same class.  After teacher observations, they decided that they are not co-dependent of each other ... unless one of them is hurt or sad. In fact, they play independently of each other in normal social settings. We found that Quinn's class was not suitable for her needs. She was having crazy anxiety issues that stopped as soon as we changed her to the other class. This works out great for me because now I get to be the room mom for both of them!

Disney On Ice IV

I'm not sure who gets more excited, Jamie or the girls. He LOVES taking them to these types of shows. This is the fourth year in a row to go to Disney On Ice. He surprised them with tickets and didn't tell them about it until they got downtown - even though I'm pretty sure Investigator HC figured it out.  I think all in all they were pleasantly surprised (even though they were thinking that the surprise was a Disney World trip, going to the Eiffel Tower or going swimming). They said they had an "awesome" time with their Daddy and Nana (I stayed home and managed Kristi's House of Laundry).

Will there be a Thurman Family Disney On Ice V? I hope so because if not, I will have one sad 40 year old to deal with!

Mid-South Fair 2011

Where do I begin ... it was the perfect evening. Jamie and I snuck out of work early, picked up Nana and the girls from school and headed down to the fair. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was relaxed, the crowds were minimal, the grounds were clean and we had a fantastic time. And let me tell you, I can still say all those pleasant things even though we spent about $175. NUTS! We were $110 into it before we stepped foot on a ride or dove into a foot long Pronto Pup. But totally worth it.
Hassie Clare was immediately bouncing off the walls when she saw all the rides. She is officially an adrenaline junkie. The higher and faster she can go, the better.

I'm afraid Cirque Du Soleil might want to recruit Hassie Clare! 

Quinn on the other hand, likes to take things slow. She has to watch a ride several time before deciding if she wants to ride it ... with her Daddy. But by the end of the night, she built up her confidence and was riding everything by herself and loving it!

 It was just one of those afternoons when the world was perfect. Everyone was happy and carefree. Our cheeks were sore from smiling so much!

Jamie was so cute with the girls at the fair. He should get father of the year for squeezing into all of the kiddie rides and climbing miles of steps, over and over, for the jumbo slides.

Jeep girls rule!

I'll be the first to admit that the fair usually grosses me out. Between the germs, greasy food, long lines, out of control kids jacked up on sugar, the heckling carney's, rude people and all the money it cost to get this .... YUCK ... why submit yourself to this torture. But my attitude will be forever changed about the fair. And even though there were still some of those things about the fair that gross me out, I found them entertaining this time. Have I changed or was it really just the perfect fair night?

Watching my beautiful Mother watch her granddaughters enjoy the fair on this magnificent evening will be forever etched into my memory. She was glowing with happiness and pride.