See Ya Spring - Welcome Summer!

Well it seems that Spring has come and gone without every showing its self. I'm hoping this means that we'll be having a summer that lasts well into October, but who knows.

We've added swim lessons to our weekend events and just got back from our first one today. The girls had so much fun. We sang songs, practiced our swim moves, went down a little slide, and they even got to learn how to properly exit a pool. Andy and I were really happy with the class. It's the perfect amount of play time and actually learning the very basics of water safety. Hopefully by September the girls will be willingly dunking their faces under the water. Right now they don't appreciate it if their faces get wet.

The biggest news around here is that for the last week my two little darlings have been sleeping in their toddler beds. And when I mean sleeping I mean ALL NIGHT, 12 HOURS, 2 HOUR NAPS! It took us 2 months to get up the nerve to move them out of the recalled cribs but it seems our worry was for nothing. They understand that they are supposed to stay in bed unless someone comes to get them and so far so good. I did go in to get Ellery this morning and she was just standing by the door (inside her room) but she must have just got out of bed and wasn't getting into anything or playing. I think when they get out of bed or crawl out of their pack n plays they kind of get nervous and don't know what they should be doing so they just start shouting for us. Not sure how long that will last but at least the transition has been very smooth.

Ellery's new bed! Emily has the exact same one. They are very proud of their new beds and want to tell everyone about "my princess bed"

Emily


Ellery - wait...there are 2 ponies?!?

ER Trip #2 for 2010

Last week I got a not so pleasant phone call from Andy saying that Ellery had fallen and cracked her head at the Children's Museum with Grammy and was on her way to the ER. At first I said "ok, let me know how it goes" but then after a few seconds I realized that I needed to get to the ER stat! What was I thinking...talked about delayed reaction. I arrived just after Grammy Linda, Auntie Tayva and all the girls. I walked into the exam room and was greeted with an energetic "Hi Mommy!" from Ellery. She ended up with a cut in almost the exact same spot as Emily's head laceration from January. Elle ended up only needing to have her cut super glued (weird?) unlike Emily's that needed staples. I know they are twins....but honestly do they both need an ER visit and matching scars?

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy we could ever ask for!!!

It was Andy's turn to experience the two sweet little voices saying "Happy Father's Day Daddy" all day for at least 3 days. It never gets old hearing the things that come out of these girls mouths'. Lately they've been saying "I love you Mommy" and I love you Daddy" totally spontaneous. LOVE that they say it on their own. They've also been saying "No way Jose" which I do not love. It's cute to hear but I'm not a fan of them saying No, No way, or anything that is opposite of what I want. ;)

Garden Time

I don't have a green thumb what so ever and it's usually because I either forget to water things or I try to over compensate for a lack of water and over water. Our new house has a drip system hooked up to a few containers and hanging baskets so I decided I had no excuse not to make an honest attempt this year. I've got a variety and am proud of the progress so far. We're growing strawberries, yellow and cherry tomatoes, an assortment of herbs, potato's, and cucumbers. I've actually not really had to water them yet thanks to mother nature. She went a little overboard though and the cucumbers don't look like they will make it. BUT the remaining plants are all growing like crazy! I didn't take a before picture but here's a picture of what it looks like 4 weeks later.

The picture makes things look pretty wimpy....but they are alive!!!!

Is it really Summer?

For the last few weeks we've had nothing but cool and rainy weather. Very typical for Oregon, but not usually this late in the year. According to the weather person that could be changing very soon. Our 7 day forecast looks like sun, sun, and more sun. To celebrate we pulled out the girls swimming pool and they took their very first and freezing cold swim of the summer.

Wow that is cold!

Ellery just went for it and sat down

Emily & Ellery getting used to it
Blowing bubbles in cold water

Wayyy to cold, I'm done with this!

Ellery

Today we also went to gymnastics. I intended to take pictures but it's impossible. Andy and I chase the girls around for the entire 45 minutes so there is no way to stop long enough to take a picture. Before we left the house the girls and I had a fun photo shoot so I guess these will have to do as our gymnastics photos.

Emily posing before gymnastics

Costco now sells little Emelina's!

I told the girls to make silly funny faces....and here's what happened....

Silly Face #1

Silly face #2

Silly face #3

Silly face #4

Cute silly faces!!

Hugging Sisters - Emily

Hugging Sister - Ellery

The girls in their new princess toddler beds.....well I guess on their new toddler beds that lazy mommy has not put together yet. We're easing into this....

Arizonaaaaaaaahhhh

I was spoiled last weekend. I left rainy cold Portland for hot sunny Arizona. One of my closest friends is getting married next month so we jetted out of town for a girls trip to Scottsdale. It was so much fun...however the temp. was 100+ the entire time. 110 degrees is rather hot and while it is better than 55 and rainy....it's another type of miserable. We spend the long weekend relaxing, sunning ourselves by the pool, and going out on the town. We actually had a lot of down time but it was wonderful to not be cleaning, or folding laundry, or doing any of the normal daily things we have to do. The hotel was quiet Thurs and Friday - we were the only people at the pool. Then Saturday rolled around and I thought I was in Las Vegas. 100's of people in tiny amounts of cloths and it looked like they had showered prior to going to the pool (unlike the rest of us roll out of bed and go girls). The very first day I wasn't as generous with the sun screen so I got a nice burn that was a pain in the butt (and everywhere else) the entire trip. Now I'm losing layers of skin right and left and itching like no other. I learned three things from this trip. 1) wear lots and lots of high SPF sunscreen 2) I want to come back annually.....just not between June-Sept. 3)come during the week when you can have an entire pool to yourself!!!

While I was gone the girls split time between the Portland & Eugene grandparents. I think they all had a blast. Andy ended up with an empty house and no kid responsibilities. How did he work that??

At the petting zoo

Gymnastic Fun!

For the last few Saturday's we've been taking the girls to a gymnastics class. They have an absolute blast. They play on the balance beams, uneven bars, trampoline, rings, and a few other things. There are a few kids in class who have been going for most of the year and one in particular can do drops and flips off the highest bar....um he is less than 3 years old. The girls have really great core strength so they are able to pull their legs up when they are on the bars and the rings. They are truly little monkeys. I'd love to include pictures but I'm always chasing one or both around so I've never been able to take any.

Swimming lessons start at the end of June, so we are also getting excited for that. We have fun things planned every weekend throughout the rest of the summer (still feels like winter). Now if I'd only remember to take pictures of those events....

Best Of Friends

Ellery the Dragon
Emily showing that she is truly my kid. We ♥ purses!! Emily
Love my sister!!

In fact we have so much sisterly love that Ellery has been expressing that love by biting Emily. Every single day for the last week. All of the articles on biting talk about it being because they are angry, upset, or just can't communicate. One article I found said that sometimes it's a misguided form of love. BINGO. It happens when they are playing nicely. Ellery just leans on in and give Em a big chomp! Need to dig a little deeper to find more articles on these "love bites" but in the meantime we ordered a book called "Teeth Are Not For Biting" which should arrive tomorrow. In fact just to be proactive I went ahead and ordered "Hands Are Not For Hitting", "Feet Are Not For Kicking", and "Words Are Not For Hurting". Oh boy - Toddlers!!

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was the most amazing one yet. Hearing two sweet little voices saying "Happy Mother's Day Mommy" no less than 100 times makes my heart want to burst out of my chest. The unprompted ones are even more amazing. Emily & Ellery are the sweetest little girls. We are so very lucky. Don't get me wrong these little angles definitely have attitude as well. They've become very familiar with the "time out pillow corner" however every time they get sent to time out they smile, laugh, and gleefully run to the corner. Uh oh...I don't think this is how it's supposed to work. I guess with persistence eventually they'll get the hang of it....but as of now I think they may like it.

We were also very fortunate to pick Mother Day weekend to go to Seaside to spend time with Grammy & Papa. It was sunny, clear skies, and warm! I spent two days worth of E&E's naps up on the sun deck reading books and felt calm, relaxed, and even got a little bit of color. Last summer I went through a phase where I read probably 60 books back to back. It gave me the mental vacation that I had so desperately needed. Lately I haven't been able to read as much, but when I do....it's pure bliss. Only downside is that if I'm really into the book I'll stay up all night and am not able to put it down. I should limit myself to daytime reading only so that it doesn't cut into my precious beauty sleep. The girls had a blast on the beach and it makes us realize we need to come back more often. This summer is already packed full of weddings, wedding related events, trips, and other fun things that we honestly have maybe 3 free weekend until labor day. I'm excited about all of the new experiences we'll have with the girls this summer. I can't wait!!

Emily

Ellery
Shopping with babies

Where did my feet go?

Identical twins....identical digging styles

We are all going different directions

Emily

Ellery in the tunnel

We Marched for Babies!!

Most of Team Singer Twins 2010

This last weekend was the March of Dimes March for Babies event! The weather held out for us and only as we were getting ready to leave did it start to sprinkle. We had a fabulous team of almost 40 walkers and even more generous donors! To date, we've raised just about $4,800 surpassing our 2009 amount of $3,100. I'm so impressed with all our family, friends, co-workers, and just generous people, I'm beside myself. A huge thanks goes out to all of you. As I've said before I am so honored and proud that we were able to help make a difference.

The Singer & VanderMeide's (Joey is our NICU buddy!)

E&E in front of their poster

Grandpa & Grammy Bobbi

Grammy Linda & Papa

Give me Five! We're making a difference for other NICU alums like us!