I know what Natalie and Abigail did this summer...

and now, finally, so will you! Summer's not really over yet, but I'm so far behind in posting, I'd figured I would get a head start.

Where to begin..let's go back to May...

May started with the girls' attending their first official birthday party. See link here: http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/bring-out-party-dresses.html

The next weekend was spent with some pre-birthday and Mother's Day celebrations.

Poppy and Nanny stopped by the bring the girls' some birthday gifts. They had a great time opening their presents and checking out their new bubble-blowing lawnmowers. Finally, Daddy has some help!

They also received a huge inflatable pool - which we have since tried out (pictures later). It's about 4' by 10', and the girls love it. They also loved the plastic balls Poppy and Nanny brought. They were meant for the pool, but the girls have loved playing with them indoors and out.

Mother's Day
Sunday morning, Natalie, Abby and I loaded up the car and headed to Asheville to meet my mom for a little Mother's Day girl fun.

It turns out that Biltmore Estates is free to mothers on Mothers Day, so we thought we would check it out. It was late by the time we met my mother, had some lunch and finally made it onto the Estate Grounds. We did get to see inside the house (castle!) and roamed the grounds just a bit. On our way out, we came across a pond with baby geese. They were SO cute. We got out and Natalie and Abby loved trying to get close.

It turned out that it was quite late by the time we were ready to leave, so rather than drive the 3.5 hours home, we opted for the 1.5 hours to go to my mom's for an impromptu visit. It was great to see Mema, who was quite pleasantly surprised!



Birthday Bust
The rest of the week was spent with Abby getting sick and their birthday taking a beating. If you remember, their actual birthday was a bust. Abby was just getting over the throw-ups and as we sat down to a little tea party on their birthday, Natalie was just starting the throw-ups. We did not get to go to the Zoo, eat cake, take decent pictures, or any fun birthday stuff. http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-bust.html

While Natalie stayed home with us, my sister took Abby (who we thought was better) for the trip we had planned to Franklin to celebrate Mema's 84th birthday (May 18) and Kimberly's birthday (26th). It turned out that Abby still wasn't feeling so well and spent most of the weekend glued to Kimberly. But, she did get to meet Uncle John and Aunt Linda, Mema's brother and his wife.

As always, having Auntie around had great benefit for Natalie and Abby. Once Auntie and Abby returned from Franklin, Auntie convinced me to take the girls for a "real" haircut to fix the mess we made when Ben and I gave them their first way too short haircuts. So, off to Peek-A-Boo for $20 haircuts we went. The girls actually did far better than I imagined.
Natalie did great,
and Abby started off well, but right at the end, she lost it. Fortunately, she was pretty much done at that point.








I have to admit, their hair looked MUCH better. (Sorry girls - no more mommy cuts.)








Operation Birthday Do-Over
We spent the 4th weekend in May on Operation Birthday Do-Over at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. Ya-Ya had cake and presents and they finally had an official 2nd birthday celebration. They loved their new books, coloring books and pens, puzzles, and baby dolls. Oh, and the picnic table and outside swings were a hit too! (Ya-ya and Grandpa got a little carried away:-)) Probably the biggest hit were the baby dolls (one to go home and one for Yaya's house.) It crawls and says "mamamama" and "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba", giggles, and oh, farts. The girls LOVE Ba-Ba baby. Since receiving them, they now crawl on the floor saying ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. I even caught Abby trying to push KitKat into the floor to make him crawl while she chanted, "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".

We opened gifts and the girls had fun eating their strawberry ice cream cake with their special twin topper. (Remember, it was the cake topper at our beach shower).


After cake, we explored Yaya and Grandpa's yard and took lots and lots and lots of pictures - their official 2 year pictures. It was really fun, and great way to celebrate Natalie and Abigail's birthday - even if it was a week late. Many thanks to Yaya and Grandpa for hosting us and making the girls' birthday special.












(Abby and Natalie)

We rounded off the month of May with a trip to the Museum of Life and Science. Last year we bought a membership for their birthday, and it was expiring May 31. So, one more trip to get our money's worth:-) This time we started at the end and check out the bears (sleeping), foxes (also sleeping) and the lemurs (not sleeping). We also explored the "Catch the Wind" exhibit (which I had never seen). We had a few minutes in the toddler section before the museum closed. They had a stuffed horse that we sat the girls on for a picture. I learned that under no circumstances any time soon would they be interested in actually sitting on a real horse or pony. Just the little stuffed one kind-of freaked them out.











It turned out that May was a pretty busy month - and sort-of bittersweet. After 5 months of babysitting again for Walker and Bean, we decided it was best if I focused on Natalie and Abby and Walker and Bean had a new babysitter whose kids wouldn't get sick every other week. I was so happy being back with the kids again, so I was sad to leave, but I did think it was for the best. Looking back now, I can say it was definitely the right choice. It seems like the girls have been sick less. Plus, we have had so many doctor's appointments and new therapies, that I'm not sure how we would have fit it all in.

For me, though, it was so amazing to watch the four of the children I've loved most in the world get to know each other. Walker and Bean were so great with them, and at the end, Walker was so sweet helping the girls in and out of their car seats. They both were great at making the girls laugh. Natalie and Abby loved them too. Even now, they say "Wa-ka" and "Be" when they see their pictures. We will stay in touch though, and certainly hope to have many more playdates with Wa-ka and Be.

If May was busy, June was even busier. Stay tuned!


Here are a few more great pics that Ben took of the girls! It's hard to tell who's who but Abby is in the dress with the darker print.

Ring-Around-the-Roses

Here's another video snippet to keep people happy until I get off my butt and update the blog with "real" information:-)

Abby in blue and Natalie in pink, and, as always, ignore the mess.

Yea for the comments!

Yea! People are leaving comments! I was beginning to wonder if anyone was still reading! Thanks everyone:-)

Bragging Rights

I have to admit that I am one hundred percent positively biased, but, I still want to brag a little about my girls. And since this is my blog, then, hey, I will:-)

Background
We have long been impressed by the girls' language comprehension skills. even when they were much younger, they seemed to understand much of what we said to them and would follow simple directions. We have also been impressed with they apply what we know they know to other scenarios. For instance, one time I asked one of them if they had poopies. Without being asked or directed, the other went and got a diaper and brought it to me. Experience had taught her that "poopy" equals a new diaper. So, even though I never said the word diaper, she knew they were associated.

More background
We have two baby gates in our house. One blocks the living room from the kitchen. The trash and recycling cans are located just on the other side of the gate. Since Ben has a habit of playing basketball star with wrapped up wet diapers, the girls have long known that the "trash" is by that gate. We also often get them to carry the diapers to that gate "to the trash". (Mostly this means they throw them over the gate.)

The other gate blocks the entryway (which leads to the other end of the dining room and kitchen) and the front door. The gates keep the girls from running out the front door and out of the kitchen. This gate has never really had any specific designation. In other words, we don't call it, "the gate by the table" or "the gate by the door". We do sometimes have them put their shoes over the gate because the shoe basket is located by the entryway in the dining room.
End Background

So, today, Natalie, Abby and I get back from Ross (a clothing/home store - sort-of like Marshall's) where we purchased 2 bags full of incredible developmental toys for the kids. It's nap time and we are in their room changing diapers and clothes. Abby went first, and then, to keep her busy while I was changing Natalie, I gave her a job. I asked her to take Natalie's shoes and "throw them over the gate". She happily grabbed them and ran off. My feeling was she would toss them over the trash gate since they are very used to that, so I added as she took off, "the gate by the door". I wasn't sure if she would understand that or not. A minute later she came running back looking for more shoes. I gave her her shoes, and she was off. When she came back, I handed her the two wet diapers (rolled up neatly) and gave her more instructions; " take these to the trash." Off she went, and then returned, empty-handed and looking quite pleased with herself.

It was a few minutes later when we were back in the living room and I checked to find: 4 little shoes tossed over the gate by the door and two little diapers by the trash. I was completely impressed. Not only had she followed all my instructions, she had put everything over the right gate.

I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when I write it, but I was just really surprised Abby was able to differentiate between the "trash gate" and "the gate by the door" - especially since we never call it that. I suppose she remembered that we usually have them toss shoes over that gate, and she certainly knows where the shoe basket is, so maybe my description was unnecessary. Either way, I was pretty impressed by my little two year old, who, if you want to be technical, isn't really even two yet. They are really only not-quite 23 months old.

Another unrelated Abby moment...
Last night while playing, she went to the toy shelf and pulled out their patty-cake bear. (It's a bear that sings and moves its arms to patty-cake when you squeeze its foot.) She took it to daddy and we did a few round of patty cake. When she was finished, she took it from daddy and headed straight back to the toy shelf. At this point, Ben looked at me and said, "is she putting that back!?" We watched wide-eyed as she stuffed Patty Bear right back into his little box where she found him. She did this completely on her own without prompting.

All and all, we have been really impressed. With all this direction-following and cleaning, Ben and I are just counting the days until we sit back on the couch drinking a coke and eating bons-bons while we give Natalie and Abby directions on cleaning the house...

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I have SO much to update and blog about, and so many other things to do as well. For now, you can enjoy this little video from May 7. The girls started doing this on their own - running up and down the hall holding hands. It is the sweetest thing.

Enjoy.