the graduate

Alexa "graduated" from preschool last week. They had a nice ceremony that included a play (Alexa was a lion - imagine that!), 2 songs, and recitation of 9 Bible verses. The play was very cute and narrated by their teacher. The story was David and Goliath. Alexa's big part was that she had to steal a sheep. She commented to me a few days before the big day that she was worried no one would like her because she had to get a sheep. She ended up being the comic relief when the sheep she chose wouldn't crawl away with her.

It's a little hard to believe the school year has already come to a close. September wasn't that long ago! But how much she's grown since then is unbelievable. Not just taller and mouthier but a lot smarter. Preschool was one of the best things I could have done for all of us!

Now is just a few short months she'll be off to kindergarten. The setup for that is interesting in SAD 40. She's all registered but doesn't actually doing any screening until September 1st. Then on the 4th is the open house which includes a short bus ride. School starts half day on the 8th, followed by full days on the 14th. It's going to be a little strange not having her around most of the day. But I know she's going to be having fun learning and making new friends.

September 2008

May 2009

summery eats - lobster rolls

To be perfectly honest, while I love lobster I can't stand lobster rolls. There is something about contaminating it with mayo and bread that is just wrong to me. Alexa however loves them (although not too keen on mayo herself). So to get her out of Nokomi's house and away from the frogs I decided to bribe her with the lure of a lobster roll from Linda Bean's where Lauren works.

At the price of those lobster rolls I was only splurging on one ($15!). Me and the twins had good ole' hot dogs at $3 each. And even then they only at the hot dog, tossing the wheat rolls aside.

All food eaten outside in the warm, fresh, sunny air tastes good. And here's some pics to show how much!ok...so Liz doesn't look so happy. But she was...honest!

okay May...where'd you go?

Yikes...another month nearly gone. And as usual it's been a busy one at our house.

Chris has been busy working at the Samoset, a combination of front desk shifts and his new position as inventory coordinator. In addition it's baseball season which means lots of umpiring. And he's coaching Alexa's t-ball team which means lots of games and some practices sprinkled in.

Alexa is finishing up pre-school. She's got just a couple days left with graduation on the 4th of June. I don't think it's dawned on her that in another week she'll be home all day, every day until September. That's when she'll go for her screening, open house (including a bus ride!), followed by her first day on the 8th.

Jacob and Elizabeth just continue to grow, learn, and master getting into things. Just this morning I found a butcher knife and scissors on the floor. Thank goodness no one got hurt! As I was putting them away I noticed that some of the knives were jammed into the wrong slots. Apparently Jake made good use of the chair his sister left out next to the counter. While I type Elizabeth is on my lap, trying to type while exploring the desk top. I have no choice but to let her be in my lap until she decides she's had enough - she just propels up my arm like a little monkey.

Both are starting to have word explosions. Elizabeth has a much larger vocabulary and is easier to understand. Jacob is slowly making improvement. He actually had an informal screening 2 weeks ago and goes for a formal evaluation the beginning of June. He understands everything we say but has such a hard time saying what he wants/needs to say without a meltdown (which can range from mild to terrifying). This week his new word is "mama". While I am quite excited to have him saying it to me it is getting a little wearing as he seems to expect a response from me every single time. Elizabeth's word of the moment appears to be "mine" and is used for about everything she comes in contact with (including myself).

Their 2nd birthday is now just a little over a month away. hard to believe how fast the days have gone!

As for me...I'm finding myself just trying to hold it together! I seem to have more days where I feel like all I do is wipe butts, laundry (wash, dry, fold, and even put away if really motivated/lacking in space to walk/sit), and dishes. Or I'm naughty and play games on Facebook just to feel guilty about it. My facial massage back in March (maybe April?) was so long ago.

My time for now is up although I'm sure I have more to get out of my head. But the kids are all clamoring for attention and I've got to figure out dinner.

a curse or blessing?

The more I try to think about events from after 10pm on Saturday July 7, 2007 the more blurred everything becomes. I'm glad I wrote down things and took pictures because I would have missed a lot. The memories most definitely need some sort of trigger.

I think this may be the body and brain's way of dealing with reality. It's just like forgetting how rough and painful labor and delivery is. The first year with multiple children is not easy, more so when you have them 2 or more at a time. But if all was crystal clear people might not go on to have any more children. And sharing the scary stories might scare off others from having children.

My big concern lately has been whether or not my OB actually did my tubal ligation after my c-section. This came up after talking with some friends, one of whom became pregnant after hers. Needless to say this is a very big fear of mine. My luck is that not only would I get pregnant but that I would end up having triplets! My mother told me I should have signed some paperwork and given consent. I don't remember any of that!

Luckily I have someone in my life that does. Yeah my dr should know but I also had a very good friend (who was a med student back then but now a full doctor herself) in the OR with us. Fortunately her memory is a bit more intact than mine and she was able to reassure me that yes the tubal was done and that the chance of me getting pregnant is incredibly slim. That is a huge load off of my shoulders.

Whenever anyone asks me what life is like with twins it's now become my standard to smile and say it's great. And sometimes I say it out loud (and always to myself) that I did survive the first year. And I've almost made it through the second year in relatively one piece with my general sanity still intact.

Follow the Leader

These days you never know what you might come across when you enter our house. It could look like we have no kids (those days are few and far between) or like someone recently ransacked the place (much more common). We have days of everyone getting along and days that everyone should be sitting in the timeout chair for the rest of their lives.

But it is fun that's for sure. As the twins get bigger they are more interested in everything. A lot of their play is probably a bit older than what other kids their age might do courtesy of having a big sister and other older friends to play with.

This past weekend we took advantage of a sunny, warm afternoon to go over to the playground at the school. Last year I had to force Jacob and Elizabeth up the steps to use the baby slide. This time I had to run in circles to keep an eye on both of them. Elizabeth is our fearless little adventurer. She had no problem following Alexa right to the top of the tallest slides. And then going down one by herself when our backs were turned for a second. I admit my heart about stopped when she landed on the ground. But she picked herself up and started laughing, then ran to go back up again.

Everything that Alexa does they want to do which is always very entertaining. These are from this morning. The new game is "we're having a baby". The kids started doing this the other day and the fun continues. Good thing we've got lots of balls around the house! The fun continued after getting dressed. Liz however decided her "belly" got in the way of her trying to cook in the "kitchen" so she popped it out. If only it was that easy.


It's hard these days to keep up with everything that they do and are learning. They just go so quickly from one thing to the next, filling their little brains. I'll let the pictures create the story...