I'm Seeing a Trend

If nothing else, Ruthie is consistent. The child has loved bouncing since she was a baby. We took this video when she was 5 months old. It was before any eye surgeries, so please excuse the wandering eye she has. Also, I had no idea Mark was videotaping. I thought he was trying to take a picture. I still have no idea what I am saying at the end of this clip. Any interpretations would be greatly appreciated.

We have fed this obsession by buying her toys, like this bounce and spin zebra.

Almost a year later and she still is entertained by the simple act of bouncing. I'm seeing a trampoline in our future....

I left them alone for 5 minutes....

and this was what I found!

Ode to the SnackTrap

I would now like to express my love of the SnackTrap in the form of a poem;

Ode to the SnackTrap, you marvelous thing

To you my children's hands cling

What marvelous treats you hide inside

You have helped to make much quieter car rides

No longer must I sit and hand out treats one by one

My children can now reach for their own treats, having so much fun

There still is an occasional mess, I must confess

But that doesnt make me love you any less

Ode to the SnackTrap, what a glorious site

To watch my children feeding themselves with small bites

Thank you for my freedom and holding those Graduate Puffs

For you, I can not be thankful enough!

For those of you who do not know, these are SnackTraps. The slogan for them is "SnackTrap...because kids spill things". They are GREAT! They have a trap like top that keeps food in but kids can put their hands in and pull it out. So, for example, when my 1 year olds are flailing them around in the car, they dont spill out treats. It is wonderful! The girls use them all day long!

As you can probably guess, the dogs like them too...

Briley is eagerly waiting for Ruthie to drop just one treat for her to munch on. Both Bailey and Briley follow the girls around when they have their SnackTraps.

More importantly, the SnackTrap has allowed Ruthie to combine two of her favorite things; eating and her slide. Heaven forbid we put the SnackTrap down for even a minute!

All joking aside, it is amazing to me how independent these girls are getting every day. They are figuring more and more out so quickly. Time is just flying by!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....

Who has the curliest hair of them all?

RUTHIE!!!!!

The curls on this girl are amazing!

I have no idea where these curls came from, but I LOVE THEM!!!!

Ring Around the Rosie

The girls have learned Ring Around the Rosie. You would think, since there are two of them, that they would love to play this with each other. You would be wrong. They refuse to hold each others' hands, which causes problems with Ring Around the Rosie. They have figured out how to play the game without touching anyone though. Such smart little girls. Ruthie does the same thing, but only wanted to play in the lazy boy this evening, so no video of her. See if you can catch what Maddie says at the end.

Who would have thought that a game about the black plague would be so cute!

Traveling, Twin Style!

When the girls were infants, I would say that traveling with them was a unique experience. Especially the couple of times I traveled by myself with the two of them as infants. I would only travel by myself with them at this point if it was a complete emergency. As I watched other parents with their kids, it seemed like we were all in the same boat now. As soon as they get mobile, I dont think it matters what age they are; you have your hands full. We had a pretty good trip back to Nashville from Albany.


Check-in normally has one parent up at the counter and another feeding our children so that they will stay calm enough to get us all checked in. Then off to the gate where we normally just let them run wild since they will be sitting the rest of the time.

Once on the plane, anything goes. We will do whatever it takes to keep them entertained and quiet during the flight.

Maddie enjoys taking Daddy's hat and wearing it. The game lasted for about 10 minutes. We'll happily take entertainment in 10 minute intervals.

The Wiggles are always the "go-to". Unfortunately, electronic devices are not allowed until 3,000 feet. It is the longest 3,000 feet of my life. This usually holds them off for a little while. Whoever invented the portable DVD player should receive the Nobel Prize.


Mark attempted to sleep with Maddie in his lap. It didnt work.

When we got to Baltimore, of course our flight was delayed. That left us enough time to catch a snack with the girls and then find some way to entertain them. Then, in Concourse B we found a lone walkway that was foot-traffic-free.

Needless to say, they were entertained until it was time to board.

For your viewing pleasure. Please ignore the freaking out Mom at the end of the video. Escalator safety should not be taken lately. Wikipedia backs me up on this one, since we all know how accurate wikipedia is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator#Accidents_and_litigation According to another website safety experts estimate as many as 70 people are injured every day nationwide riding escalators. I refuse for my daughters to become one of their statistics.

Calling For a Few Flurries

A few predicted flurries that were supposed to begin in the middle of the night and die out by the morning, turned into a full fledged snow storm of 7 inches that lasted all day in NY. I was excited because the last round of snow had turned nasty and brown, so this next layer of covering made everything look pretty again. It also let me take the girls out for their first time in the snow! I mean real snow....none of this 1 inch, melts within hours, Tennessee kind of snow. Snow the way God intended!

The first step is to get the girls dressed. Now, for those of you not from a place that has a lot of snow, you probably dont know that there is a developmental step that children must master when they live in this climate. It goes roll over, crawl, cruise, walk, and then learn to walk in a snowsuit and boots. It truly is a demanding task. We gave the girls a few test rounds in the house to get used to the pants and the boots.

After a few successful attempts we added the jackets (which make them top heavy and wobbly!) and moved them outside.

My father snowblows a trail in the backyard for the dogs, so the girls had a nice clear path to walk in.




If not for the trail, all of our pictures and their "playing" would have consisted of them just standing in snow, like this.

Overall, I think they had a good time. They managed to at least stay warm and only fall a couple of times. This was my favorite picture from the day!