The Big 03!

Madeleine blowing out her candles (she "designed" her own cake).

Emily tackling her candles (she also "designed" her cake)

Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right.

After much anticipation, on their part, Madeleine and Emily turned three last week! This event was so significant we had a "cross-off sheet" for 22 days (when something significant is going to happen - grandparent visit, Christmas, etc. - we cross the days off on a sheet of paper that is continuously taped to the kitchen wall...we usually start with about a week before the event) and are still singing Happy Birthday to each other (and ourselves) in the car on a fairly routine basis.

Till and I opted not to have a big party and just have a "special day". At 6:12 AM I was awakened by one of them saying, rather enthusiastically, "This day is Mama and Memy's birday!!" which was promptly followed by two little voices singing Happy Birthday. A rather cute and humorous way to start the day. (The night before I gave Emily a hug after her bath and told her that was the last time two year old Emily would hug me, but was reassured by "That's okay, three year old Emily will hug you Mommy.")

The girls started their day by receiving "birthday outfits", complete with new underwear and socks. I wonder at what point underwear and socks lose their appeal and are no longer something to be looked forward to. Madeleine and Emily also received large, and oh-so-subtle ribbons that labeled each girl a "Birthday Girl" to wear for the day. When they came out of their room they found their door decorated and balloons for each girl. For a video of the Emily and Madeleine taking their balloons downstairs for breakfast, click here. Madeleine is the first one down the stairs and I wish I could have gotten the camera to cooperate about 10 seconds earlier - such is life.

Following breakfast, we talked to Oma and Opa on the computer and opened the presents that had been sent from Germany. Then we went to school. In the car on the way to school Emily announced she wanted to have the birthday alone, so she could have "this day and Madeleine can have a later day. How about that Madeleine?" Madeleine was not enthused. After school Emily and Madeleine came home and announced their expectation of another gift - caving to pressure, Mom and Dad gave them new swimsuits and the family ate lunch. After nap time we went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday (any event in any restaurant is a very big deal in our world) where Madeleine mentioned "that man is really nice" in reference to the waiter. After we got home our neighbors, Maureen and Leisa, came over for cake and presents. For a video of our stellar singing, click here, again, I wish the camera had started earlier and apparently I need to carry around studio lights as this video is very dark. My favorite part is Miss Emily picking frosting off of her cake around 20 seconds - for which she received high fives from Leisa. After Leisa and Maureen went home Emily and Madeleine opened their Spokane presents while talking on the computer with Mama and Bapa (they also got to talk on the phone with Aunt Liz), bathtime and bedtime followed and two very tired three year olds went to sleep.

While they loved their birthday and want next year's to come immediately (there was actually a request for a cross-off sheet for next year's birthday - the request was vetoed), Emily and Madeleine had even more fun the following day when they could actually play with their airplanes (we drew a chalk airport on the driveway), read their books, make crafts and play Memory and Hi Ho Cherry O (I was amazed at how quickly the girls grasped the objective - be the first to fill your bucket with cherries from your tree - and learned to cheat. For example, when you spin the spinner if you land on a bird or dog you have to put two cherries back...nope - you just spin again! And, you keep spinning until you land on the number 4 - the highest possible number of cherries that can be removed from a tree at one time!) The morning following their birthday, the birthday tablecloths and hats were on the table, Emily put her hat on and both girls demanded cake for breakfast. When I said that perhaps that wasn't the best idea I was informed, "Mommy, that's why I have on my birday hat." - oh, okay then.

Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right - figuring out which girl gets which set of balloons (their dresser is in the hall because I had to remove it from their room - again - the previous Friday during naptime....I just consider furniture moving the strength training compliment to my treadmill time!)

Waving good-bye to Oma and Opa after chatting on the computer.

Emily with a book from Bapa and Mama

Madeleine making something with craft supplies from Aunt Liz.

Madeleine with her new book from Mama and Bapa.


Emily, the glue master, at work.


Emily (L) and Madeleine (R) showing each other their "messy faces" the day after their birthday.

Melissa with Emily and Till with Madeleine.

Preparations

Madeleine inspecting her mittenless fingers.

Emily exhibiting her mittenless fingers.

I'm afraid I removed the camera from its standard location in our backpack and don't have pictures of our activities over the past two weeks....so, a couple of more pictures from our Valentines Day trip to Colonial Williamsburg. (In truth, I did manage to grab the camera when the girls got away from me while getting dressed after a nap. There are few pictures of both young ladies performing "the naked dance" (they made this up completely on their own), however, I think it best not to put such pictures online, no matter how innocuous.)

Somehow the girls began focusing on their upcoming birthday (next week) on about January 6th. I'm not sure how they knew it was up-and-coming, but chatting about it has become the major past-time in our household. Friday each girl had "alone time" with me and got to pick out her birthday tablecloth (I think we will have to fold both tablecloths in half and run tape down the middle to get them both on the table at the same time), napkins, plates, etc. Till and I had talked about having a "kids' party", but as the girls have two groups of children with whom they go to school, AND they don't seem to know about kids' parties....we shelved that one for next year. In other words, we made a significant investment in birthday paper products for ourselves and the neighbors. However, the girls were so proud and excited picking out their things, that it is worth it. The only specific gift request we have received at this point is from Madeleine who wants "a teeny tiny airplane I can hold in my hand", Emily thought this sounded good too. The girls have very specific ideas as to the appearance of their cakes and are under the impression the cups, plates, napkins and tablecloths are their gifts. We contemplated taking advantage of this innocence, but realized we'd be found out eventually and it would simply give the girls more ammunition when they are teens. Gifts have been purchased.

I spent the past weekend in Washington D.C. with a friend from college. The girls seemed to do a good job supervising their father (and the cats). I took the train instead of attempting to drive the Capital Beltway and handle rush hour traffic on a Friday night in an area I don't know.

We have also discovered the book Babushka's Doll in which a young girl is slightly "demanding" about what her grandmother is supposed to do for her. The grandmother leaves the girl with a doll who comes to life and is shockingly less than reasonable in her expectations of the girl...we read the book 3 times within the first 24 hours. The girls seem to understand that it is nice if you can give someone approximately three seconds before hitting them with another demand...I'm just hoping we don't' experience nightmares about our dolls coming to life!

The Sweet Silence Of Slumber

Emily asleep!

Madeleine sleeping!

Two family members who never experience sleep deprivation. Lincoln is black, Lucy is tortoise shell.


Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we may have success with our sleeping arrangements. Generally, the girls are doing much better both staying in their beds and going to sleep within a somewhat reasonable amount of time. We did have to break down and use bribery (I am indebted to the inventor of the sticker so many times over). We have charts on the wall and when we put the girls to bed a smiley face (or "smimey face") is put on the chart, we come back to the room once about 15 minutes after we intially left, to tell them "play time is over" (seems you must use those exact words) and if they get in bed and go to sleep at that point, they get to keep the smiley face. IF parents have to make another curtain call for anything other than an injury (which shouldn't occur if two young ladies are lying in their beds, but we have yet to address this technicality) - you lose your smiley face! If Emily and Madeleine accrue three smiley faces they get a "fancy sticker" from the sticker store. So far - bribery has worked. This week I introduced a kitchen timer and the theory is...we set it and leave the room, when the timer "goes ding" it means play time is over and the girls are to get in bed on their own. It has worked once, but I have not completely given up hope.

We have had a couple of adventures. About two weeks ago on Saturday night Madeleine ended up with a small cut on her lower lip and hysterics commenced. Ice was applied (the very first time this first aid technique has been permitted and I am thrilled to have picked up the ice pack shaped like a kitty head, on a whim, the previous day) and the minor bleeding was stopped. However, the girls flat-out refused to tell us what caused the injury (very unlike them as normally they tell readily and even offer a reenactment on occasion). It was obvious Madeleine's lower lip had been bitten by one of her upper teeth, but we weren't sure how. The next day I took the girls upstairs to put them down for their nap and was treated to the following performance (video) which obviously explains how a lip was bitten. Emily is in blue and Madeleine is in purple (sorry the video is so dark - their room is honestly well-lit, but the blinds were closed and I can't edit the light on a video..).

On another occasion when I poked my head in to announce "play time is over" I was handed a screw by Emily and told "The light is broken". There is a small door near the girls' beds that leads to some storage space over the garage. The girls never noticed the door before the arrival of Big Girl Beds (in fairness I painted it the same color as the wall and it used to be behind the dresser). Anyhow, there is a light in the storage space and the switch is now at the foot of Emily's bed. We have a ceramic Peter Rabbit switchplate cover and somehow the two of them got the bottom screw out. When I put it back in, to see if it would stay, I had to use a screw driver to get it back out - but not these two, fingernails are enough. I removed the screw from their room as this would be an ongoing issue if it had been left and searched for both tools and maps of any local banks. I came up empty-handed, but that doesn't mean they aren't in there.

Per our young ladies' request last week we had another Friday of "alone time". When Madeleine was at school Emily and I took clothing to the clothing bank, stopped at a book store, and tried to pick up a few items at a grocery store that carries things the "real store" doesn't. The highlight for Miss Emily was getting to sit in the front passenger seat of the car (while it was parked and locked!) to eat her snack before she went back to school. While Emily was at school Madeleine and I went grocery shopping for the week and took the food home and put it away. She had a great time dragging bags of groceries from the door leading into the garage to the kitchen and then handing me items to put in the cupboards. Saturday, Madeleine and Daddy had a muffin at a "cafe" (really the one in Barnes and Noble) while Emily and Mommy walked around and watched them take apart the truck that used to be in the middle of Old Navy. Then the girls traded grown-ups and Emily had a muffin with Daddy while Madeleine and Mommy looked at a couple of books and checked-in on the progress of the truck removal.

Madeleine with her valentines.

Emily discussing her valentines with Madeleine.

Madeleine and Emily celebrated their third Valentine's Day and it was a hit! When they came downstairs and saw the tablecloth with hearts, and cards waiting for them, they literally giggled out loud and danced a bit - seriously haven't had this much excitement since Christmas. They had a great time picking out valentines to take to school and think receiving the little cards, and occasional piece of candy, from the other students is the best thing they have encountered in quite a while. In addition they were also sent cards in the mail and got a package from Mama and Bapa (Grandma and Grandpa); a good day overall.

These boots are made for walking? Emily in black pants and Madeleine in lavender.

Valentine's Day brought a little bit of snow to Williamsburg (less than an inch), so we put on all our snow gear (it was cold and windy) and headed to Colonial Williamsburg to play in the snow. I had bought the girls snowboots for next year (I try and do a lot of end of season buying with an eye toward the next year's season) - last year in Spokane, the girls didn't play in the snow for any length of time, so the old bread bag over the socks trick worked pretty well. This year we tried the bread bag trick again (it is hard to justify buying two pairs of boots to be used for only two weeks), but I realized as the girls had gotten older, they were more able to stay outside and play in the snow. So...boots have been purchased for next year, but of course they are too big at this point. In an effort to rectify this situation, I put three pairs of socks on each child. There was initial difficulty walking in the boots (and probably too many socks) as the girls aren't used to that much bulk around their ankles and calves, but we finally succeeded. There wasn't a whole lot of snow to play with, but we did have a blast stomping in puddles (something that is normally forbidden). We found the best puddles were actually in the grass itself - video and I would like to point out, that while they are not worn in the video, we did bring - and wear some of the time - mittens. Unfortunately, the stomping in puddles went a bit far when Madeleine elected to sit in one - video.

I was informed this wasn't "real snow" and so show some highlights that haven't been posted from Spokane's "real snow". Last year Madeleine sledding with Grandpa and thinking it wasn't the best of ideas (the girls laugh out loud when they see this) - video. This year Madeleine sledding with Grandpa and deciding it was worthwhile - video. Emily sledding with Grandpa - video. And lastly, the girls sledding on their own on their tummies - Emily first, then Madeleine - video - the requests for "I want do that again" express a definite increase in sledding's approval ranking from the previous year.

Emily in front and Madeleine in back, sledding on their own in Spokane.

Madeleine, on left, with Grandpa and Emily looking down from Grandpa and Grandma's balcony.

Let's Try This Again

Emily in her "Hawaii Box" items sent by vacationing grandparents and great-aunt and uncle. Said people are now up to their ears in Spokane's snow...

Madeleine in her "Hawaii Box" items. If some is good, more is better.

As the previous post describes we recently entered the world of "Big Girl Beds"; this was not a successful journey. The girls were put into their beds on a Friday and between goofing around when they should be napping, staying up late (despite being put down at their normal time) and waking up early, they managed to shave about 3 hours of sleep off of their standard amount. The antics include everything from emptying our dresser drawers (including the placement of underwear on each head as a "hat") to throwing "bedtime toys" back and forth. I didn't see it, but I'm pretty sure there was some dancing involved. There was one instance where Madeleine was singing at the top of her lungs and Emily pitched her Sesame Street Ernie doll, hitting Madeleine squarely on the cheekbone with Ernie's rather large plastic eyes. Madeleine was convinced this required urgent medical attention and after talking her down I asked Emily to apologize. Emily gave the obligatory "I'm sorry" (it wasn't strikingly sincere), but then announced "Madeleine sing more, Madeleine might get hurt more." - it was rather like tucking in a member of Tony Soprano's crew.

The Monday after they were given their beds I came to the startling realization that if I was meant to be a game show hostess I would be; it was time to end my career with "Let's Make A Deal". That day the girls were given one warning and when they got out of their beds they were returned to their cribs...they napped for 3+ hours (possibly indicating they were in fact tired?). Foolishly, I thought I had it figured out, but as the days progressed and the girls became more tired it dawned on me that drastic steps had to be taken. Friday at naptime I was faced with the decision of removing the beds or pitching the girls through their bedroom window in complete and absolute frustration with the sleep-deprived lunatics who had taken possession of my children's bodies (The girls do not do well with decreased sleep and neither do I. I also, apparently, don't do well with not getting a bit of time to myself in the middle of the day while the girls nap). That day I put them down at the normal time and waited an hour - still partying. I got on the treadmill and walked for an hour, went and listened at their door - still partying. It was at that point the girls were told they were not in trouble, but that they weren't ready for Big Girl Beds and the beds were removed to the guest room. Emily was not particularly upset, but Madeleine was afraid I had sent the beds back to the store, she was told that was not the case.

I had intended for the cribs to return for only a day or two, but both girls came down with minor colds and there was no way they were going to be free-range toddlers with a humidifier and Sudafed Plugin in the room...so, we all caught up on sleep and are trying it again. The Big Girl Beds made their triumphant return on Thursday evening and we'll see. The beds are now foot to foot as Emily kept "falling" (her parents would disputer her choice of verb and choose "climbing") out of the "head part"; she now has a wall at her head. We also have bedrails that work, but frankly those seem to have just excited the girls by adding to the challenge.

Yesterday, I went in to find their entire sock drawer emptied on the floor and ended up removing their dresser from the room (Have I mentioned my furniture moving abilities have truly flourished in the past two weeks?). Complete devastation ensued and the dresser was returned on the condition it is not treated as a toy bin...so far, so good.

One member of the family, Lucy, is absolutely thrilled to bits to have two new beds to sleep on. Her only issue seems to be evenly splitting her time between our bed and those of the girls.

Last Saturday the girls got new shoes. We ventured to the Stride Rite outlet for the first time and had a fairly successful trip. (We did have to return Monday because Madeleine said her new shoes "hurt". I could in no way see where they were pinching her and kept asking questions. Turns out, "hurt" was her way of expressing her displeasure that the shoes were not "pink enough" - the shoes were exchanged for "pinker ones".) Although, I did get what I call a "twin comment" that threw me a bit. We are very used to people, as in total strangers, coming up and asking/commenting on the most amazing things related to the girls being twins; which one we love more, if they are sisters, if they were sick when they were born, general comments about personality, etc. However, a woman at the shoe store approached me and informed me that her grandmother was an identical twin. I said "Great." (standard response) and tried to move on, but she would have none of it. She then told me that the two women looked alike (shocking) and even had strikingly similar handwriting - okay. Then, she announced it was really weird to be at her grandmother's funeral and see "...one of them in the coffin and the other standing there looking at her, it was like looking at yourself in a coffin." Of all the issues related to having twins that have crossed my mind; this one never did! Apparently grandchildren of both women were upset and confused...this is when my fight or flight instinct kicked in and since you can't fight a lunatic beaming at your toddlers discussing their funerals - I just said "Well, I hope I'm not at either of their funerals. It isn't the life cycle to bury your children." and hit the road - weirdo!

Tuesday the girls and I had some "alone time". For the first hour of school Emily went to class and Madeleine and I walked to campus and had a muffin at the little cafe in the foyer of William and Mary's library. We looked at flowers and picked up some rocks. Coming back we took turns chasing each other across the soccer field. Then, Madeleine went to school for the second hour and Emily and I went to get a muffin. We also took turns chasing each other across the soccer field and saw some early spring flowers. Then both of them went to school and I got an hour without either of them! It was really nice to have some one-on-one time with each of them and be able to do things that aren't normally possible, like when Emily wanted to ride on my shoulders - no problem with one, but a bit of an issue with both of them as they are right around 31-32 lbs. each. Our thanks to Miss Deena and Miss Kim for valiantly participating in our little game of "Which one is at school now?"

Thursday, the girls and I went to Colonial Williamsburg. We visited with the sheep, but actually ended up having more fun with the ants. We found a patch of hardened dirt in the middle of a lawn and were watching the ants come out of their hole in the ground. After we crumbled a goldfish cracker we got to watch the ants carry the pieces around and noticed they were now coming out of five previously unnoticed holes in the ground; this is when a visit to the sheep was suggested. The girls decided they were big ants and insisted on being called Ant Madeleine and Ant Emily for the rest of the morning. We did stop back by the ants on our way home and said goodbye.

Big Girl Beds!

When sleeping arrangements were simpler. Birthday - Emily in top of frame, Madeleine closest to camera.

"According to the experts..." most children transition from their crib to their bed between two and three years old. This was a transition I have been absolutely dreading. I love the girls' cribs; they are socially-acceptable cages! I know when I put them in their cribs: they can't get into things in the room, they can't attack each other, they can't hurt themselves, they won't fall on the floor (usually) and even if they choose to have a bit of a party with one another - they will eventually fall asleep. Another bonus is that in the unlikely event I am trying to put one in jammies for nap time and the other is running around like a recently escaped monkey from the zoo - I have a safe place to stash the spare child and consequently lower my blood pressure by about 30 points. However, Madeleine and Emily's third birthday is fast approaching and there have been requests for "Big Girl Beds". So, I put my love of the cribs aside (good-bye dear friends) and the adventure began.

Last weekend mattresses and box springs were purchased (we are waiting on headboards until we finalize the furniture positioning in their room) and set for delivery. Wednesday the girls and I went shopping for sheets and each of them got to buy two sets of their choosing. Interestingly, both chose some with frogs and lilypads; then Emily chose another set with flowers and Madeleine chose a set with hearts. Then we looked in a catalog and picked out dust ruffles and comforter covers; Madeleine chose "fayies" (fairies) for her comforter cover and a purple dust ruffle and Emily chose "beyinas" (ballerinas) for her comforter cover and a yellow dust ruffle.

Emily opening her frog sheets.

Madeleine opening her frog sheets.

Emily's flower sheets.

Madeleine's heart sheets.

Friday afternoon I went to assemble the bedrails I had bought at Target. While I'm not overwhelmingly handy I have assembled coffee tables, end tables, kitchen table and chairs, bouncy seats, swings, cribs, an exersaucer or two, doll furniture, children's table, a rather intricate toy kitchen, etc. These bedrails were designed by a demented being and impossible to put together (they were returned to Target this morning). This was not good news two hours before bedtime, so...I had just read in Parents magazine to put a pool noodle under the fitted sheet to create a barrier so a child doesn't roll out of bed. Since it is mid January, we don't have a pool and the lake we like to go to is 3,000 miles away - we don't have a whole lot of extra pool noodles floating around. However, we have lots of towels and extra sheets so a protective ridge was slipped under the fitted sheets, and (knock on wood) has worked so far.

We left the girls' cribs in their room partly to reassure them (read this somewhere) and partly as a threat (i.e. "If you get out of your Big Girl Bed, you can sleep in your "white bed".) Normally, the girls are put to bed between 6:30 and 7 and go to sleep about 30 minutes later. Till goes into their room about 7AM and they sleep until anywhere between 6:15-6:45. The first night (last night) the girls goofed around (this included Emily turning off both night lights and Madeleine going into hysterics) and had to have a few "chats" with parents, they finally dozed off about 8:15 (not too bad). However, when they woke up at 4:50 this morning - we were not thrilled! Today's nap time was a bit of a disaster. The pitter-patter of little feet was heard as Emily and Madeleine raced around the room. When they opened their door - I went in. They had opened the top four drawers of their dresser and there were jammies, socks, tights and underwear (including a pair on each of their heads) all over the room. I threatened, put things away and left. Twenty minutes later I was sitting on the floor of their room to encourage staying in bed. Both girls had the unmitigated gall to repeatedly hop out of bed with me in the room. We were placed in our "white beds" and screaming commenced....Till went in about 10 minutes later, put them back in their Big Girl Beds, and while they were still upset (sobbing) - they at least stayed put and slept for about an hour and a half (about half of their normal nap duration)....this evening there was some play, but less than last night and we have our fingers crossed for tomorrow morning.

Madeleine on left, Emily on right..."getting ready for bed" or rather the soon-to-come chaos. As of this morning the beds no longer touch as the crisis (at 4:50 AM) was that Madeleine was putting her feet on Emily's head...

Emily's new "Big Girl Bed" (M refused to have a similar picture taken - at least at this point.)

Madeleine's on the left and Emily's on the right.

On another note Madeleine and Emily would like to wish Uncle Paul Happy Birthday and hope he enjoyed the message we left on voice mail.

We also hope Miss Deena is feeling better.

Thursday there were some snow flurries. However, the snow didn't stick and I was informed that "Pokan has good snow and Wiyiambur has bad snow" - apparently, if it doesn't stick, it isn't good. Today there was a bit more snow and it is sticking. There isn't enough to build a snowman, but we did play with our sand buckets and took our strollers on a snow stroll.

Also, miracle of miracles, we now look forward to shampoos. Oma and Opa sent a calendar with cat pictures for Christmas. I tried to put it up in the family room and it was nearly dismantled. So, I put it in the bathroom and you get a "new kitty" on shampoo night. This coupled with the "shampoo hats" seems to have beat the trauma shampoos caused this fall.

Return To Williamsburg

About hour 17 of our day of travel and the girls finally surrender to sleep for about 15 minutes. Madeleine has the purple blankie and Emily is closest to the camera.

While sleeping Emily put her hand on Madeleine's.

The girls did a great job on another transcontinental flight. Generally, the girls don't sleep on the plane (can't get comfortable enough), but they don't howl, kick or otherwise cause mayhem either - we count our blessings. This trip we were delayed in Vegas (by only an hour, but it was a long hour with two bored toddlers) so we didn't land in Norfolk until 1:05 AM (got to the house about 2:45 AM - long day)...the girls finally dozed off about 12:25AM (our original arrival time) and then woke up disoriented and hysterical for the final descent. It is taking a couple of days to get back in the swing of things (took a full week in Spokane), but things are looking up.

This fall we started working on teaching the girls their phone number, their last name, city where they live, etc. They have their last name down (whether an adult not familiar with "toddlerese" could understand them is another story), know Daddy's job is a professor ("beffefer" - may help in a college town), know they live in Williamsburg ("Wiyiambur") and are working on the phone number. Since our travels, when I ask which city they live in I'm told"Wiyiambur and Pokan"...so good luck to all of us should we ever become separated.

Tuesday the girls had a triumphant return to school (God bless their teachers, who deserve combat pay). They are still off with time zones and had to be awakened for school. I tried to pick them up early, but they wanted to stay on the playground - which was fine - so we got home just 15 minutes early. The girls were eating lunch and I had turned my back on them to get something out of a cupboard. Miss Madeleine burst into tears and upon investigation I learned she had managed to bite her own finger while eating her post-lunch cookie...a new level of exhausted. So, the injured party was carried upstairs, put to bed and she and her sister took a 4 hour nap! Mom did the Happy Dance.

Santa brought the girls beds for their babies. When we got back to Williamsburg we found that Santa also had swings, high chairs and strollers for the babies. He left us a note, on his official North Pole stationary, explaining that he knew we had to fly on an airplane and only the baby bed could be easily unassembled and taken on the plane, so he left the rest in Williamsburg. The baby furniture is a hit and I have learned, while frantically trying to get us out the door to the library's story time, that at least a five minute warning must be given before we are to leave the house. Babies, stuffed snowmen, Sesame Street dolls and pull-along dogs all must be put in the proper piece of equipment and given proper supplies (plastic food, blankets, diapers, etc.). Finally, everyone is reassured "I only be gone little bit. I always come back." and then the announcement that "Er'ca" (Erica is a loyal, and brave, babysitter) will be coming.

Emily with her new doll stroller from Santa.

Madeleine making sure Oscar the Grouch is secure in the stroller.

Emily's ensemble suggestion for a trip to the library's story time...she is looking to the side wary of her approaching sister...snatching of each other's treasures has been known to happen in our house.

Madeleine also has solid fashion instincts. This was taken during a nap she boycotted in early November (hence the pajamas).

Madeleine (pink pants) and Emily (black pants) playing some sort of game that involves taking an instrument of colonial punishment and pretending to answer a door, look through a peephole, etc. For the video version - click here - there are a lot of "ding dongs" and "hellos".

Today, we returned to Colonial Williamsburg to find it undergoing the same thing that happened last winter...repairs for summer. Last year the Wythe House got a new roof, this year it seems the Geddy House is getting some attention. We had a good time watching the crew climb the scaffolding, unload wood panels and toss around metal poles of some sort (my lack of construction background may be evident). If there is not rain tomorrow...we will return to gather more data.

Snow! (And The Other Wonders Of Spokane)

Madeleine (L) and Emily (R) checking out Bapa's inflatable critter collection...

Our visit to Spokane has been one of significant events for Madeleine and Emily. On December 19th they were given their first haircuts by Laurel (a veteran of their mother's childhood). We were rather excited in the lead-up to the event, stoic during the actual trimming and proud following its conclusion.

Emily's first haircut, given by Laurel.

Madeleine's first haircut, also given by Laurel.

Emily walking up the sledding hill (the key to wearing them out is to have them walk back up the hill, repeatedly, under their own power!)

Madeleine pulling her sled up the hill.

Emily painting sugar cookies.

Madeleine painting cookies.

On the 20th the whole family had professional photos taken for the first time since the girls were three weeks old (MUCH less stressful this time around). Somewhere around this date we also took the girls to the dollar store so they could buy gifts for parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We are working on the idea that you give gifts as well as receive them.

And on the 23rd the girls attended a family brunch hosted by "Aunt" Camilla and "Uncle" Tom (actually their mother's aunt and uncle, but let's not get picky) and attended by second cousins, etc. The girls did a good job minding their p's and q's. When it was time to leave I said to the girls "let's roll" and Madeleine got on the floor and began rolling around. So, after picking our child up off the floor, we left thankful that there were no major meltdowns and that the "fa-fa" (fancy) "restda" (restaraunt) was still standing.

On Christmas Eve the Pajama Elf brought the customary new "payams" to the girls. Emily and Madeleine were thrilled to be able to open a present - at last! Obviously Christmas morning was a hit and we'd like to thank family, friends and Santa for their generosity. One of the funniest moments was when the girls were absolutely thrilled to give each other the gifts they bought for one another so long ago in Williamsburg. It was also pointed out that while they are currently thrilled to receive new clothing....unfortunately, we don't expect the enthusiasm to last.

We have also had fun going sledding, making snowmen, going on walks while being pulled in a sled, painting cookies and completing every craft imaginable with Aunt Liz.

On the evening of the 29th Emily "Newton" Schreiber learned that one should not be too enthusiastic about hoisting a leg over one's crib railing. She also learned four adults will come flying into the room to hear her story about "I fall out of bed". We were informed "Mama and Memy need really big girl beds" and "We growing up lots now" When she was placed back in her crib there was some concern expressed that it "might happen again" and it was pointed out this was not likely if young ladies were to stay on their bottoms and/or lie down. Madeleine was clutching the end of her crib when we got to the room, terrified her ejector seat would also activate without warning....thankfully, it didn't!

Our entire family sends a warm welcome to Miss Stella Esther Snider, who arrived on December 29th, and heart-felt congratulations to her parents Julie and Jim.

Merry Christmas

Emily (left) and Madeleine verifying Santa drank all of his milk as well as eating all of his cookies.

As might be imagined, things have been rather busy and exciting today. However, all four of us would like to pause to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Over The River And Through The Woods

Emily (left), Madeleine and Daddy eating "ice cream" while waiting in the Vegas airport.

While we didn't travel via horse-drawn sleigh, we did make it to Grandmother's (actually Grandpa and Grandma's - "Bapa and Mama") house on Tuesday. The girls did well on the flight. However, they seemed to remember the entire list of contents held in my airplane bag of tricks and went through all of their carry-on toys within the first hour. The other six and a half hours in the air seemed to drag a bit as we went through our recycled entertainment. The main highlights of the airplane adventure this time around were: the junior high choir singing Christmas carols in the Norfolk airport, the flight attendant singing after we landed in Vegas, use of the airplane's restroom facilities (although I was told "That room is too small."), and eating "ice cream" (frozen yogurt) in the Vegas airport while waiting for our connecting flight (there are no other "dining establishments" in that wing of the airport...). Thankfully, our flights were on time and our luggage made the trip with us.

Emily in front and Madeleine in back on our first, for this year, venture into the snow.

We had been told there was a lot of snow in Spokane and had passed this message along to the girls. Madeleine and Emily arrived with visions of snowmen and snow angels dancing in their wee heads. The day we arrived, the rain came. So.....our first day we went to the park and made a snowman with what was left of the snow, thankfully two year olds from Virginia aren't too discerning as to good and bad snow, and attempted snow angels. We have high hopes for more white stuff in the forecast.

Emily on Cocoa (left) and Madeleine on Sugar.

The girls were thrilled to see some equestrian pals waiting for them in their grandparents' family room. Cocoa is the brown horse, who their mother rode for miles and miles in her childhood, and the lighter horse is Sugar who joined the family about 1984 and is the former property of Aunt Liz and Uncle Kyle.

The girls have already had a wonderful time making paper snowmen and paper chains with Aunt Liz. She also taught them how to play Hide And Seek, a big hit. Uncle Paul provided the girls with their cowgirl hats so as not to have other folks at the rodeo think we were inadequate.

Nikolaus-Tag And Santa Pictures

Emily (left) and Madeleine checking out the all of the goodies from Nikolaus.

In German speaking countries there is a wonderful character, Nikolaus. He comes the night of December 5th and leaves candy and small toys for well behaved children who have left out their freshly cleaned shoes. Each year we have had Nikolaus-Tag (Nikolaus's Day - the feast day for Saint Nicholas - or as I call it "Shoe Day") for the girls, but this was the first year they were truly aware of it. The evening of the 5th the girls thoroughly cleaned their shoes with diaper wipes and under the supervision of their father. The shoes were left by the front door and two rather excited litttle girls went to bed. They did ask how Nikolaus got to the house and Till told them he drove a car, yeah, a person from German folklore is going to show up in a Toyota...we decided he walked. The morning of the 6th Emily and Madeleine dressed with great speed, flew downstairs and were thrilled to see the contents on the doormat. Nikolaus gave each girl some chocolate and two new cans of Play-Doh which is currently a very popular toy. The girls were so thrilled that I think it is safe to say their parents are more excited about the proceedings of Christmas morning than the girls are.

Today we went to get our Santa pictures. We had gone earlier in the week, but Santa was feeding his reindeer. When we left the house I told Till we had low standards for this one. I expected both girls to be in tears, screaming and clutching security blankets. Last year when we went for pictures it was the middle of a weekday afternoon and no one else was there. I put the girls on Santa's lap, they came unglued and I told the photographer to go for it, because they were at "that age". Santa sat on the floor for an hour (yes, you read that correctly) playing with the girls. We never got a picture in his sleigh, but we did get several without tears and Santa earned his designation as a saint.

Yesterday, we ran into Santa at Rite Aid and the girls were not excited. Emily cried and Madeleine shook. In the car on the way home there was great discussion as to the fact the girls did not like Santa and that he had too much hair on his face. Apparently, Santa took it to heart because today when we saw him, at a completely different location, he had a short beard (and better training, more experience, warmer persona, etc., almost as if he was a different person)! We got in line and watched the children in front of us. Shockingly, Santa did not decapitate them, many of the kids were excited to see him and voluntarily got in the sleigh, some kids even hugged him and when the kids were finished they were all given a sucker and bubbles by Mrs. Claus. As bubble lovers who are not ones to turn down candy, we decided to give it a shot.

I again told the photgrapher to just click the camera, whatever the result. Madeleine's hands literally started to shake when we got to Santa (as I put her on the bench I did not feel like the world's best mother), but Santa let her touch just his finger to start. Emily contemplated crying, but had a change of heart, after all it was Madeleine who had to sit next to him. Not only did the girls not cry (literally shocking to their parents) there were even a couple of smiles and they told Santa that they would both like some Play-Doh for Christmas. And so, to date we do not have a screaming Santa picture (the first year they didn't realize they were on anything other than a couch - as we "backed" them into Santa's arms - until Santa laughed right after the camera clicked...then they realized, looked and cried - but we already had the picture!) and have high hopes for next year.


Santa, Madeleine, Emily
Santa, Madeleine, Emily

In other news the girls got their first pairs of jeans this week. Frankly, I've been putting it off because jeans make them look so old and grown-up. I wouldn't mind freezing time. However, we were at the department store and the jeans were spotted. We were at the store because we were hoping we would be able to replace Madeleine's well-loved (and borderline indecent) purple pants pictured in "Thanksgiving Revisited". We had no luck. However, we spotted the jeans and they have a purple belt for Madeleine and a pink belt for Emily. They also have lots of "pretty" embroidery, so we are hoping there may be a new favorite.....we'll see if Santa can help out with other purple pants.

Emily in her new jeans.
Madeleine (being slightly less than cooperative hiding by the couch) in her jeans.

Emily and Madeleine would like to wish Opa a very happy birthday!

The Williamsburg Christmas Parade

T with Emily and M with Madeleine

Williamsburg has an annual Christmas Parade, which we attended on a whim last year. We returned this year in hopes this event would once again entertain the girls. This year we got there earlier, as last year each of us spent much of the parade with a toddler on our shoulders, and found a lovely seat on the ground in the front row. Thirty minutes into the ninety minute event Emily announced she was ready for it to be over, but was pacified by Teddy Grahams. In all fairness, we waited about forty minutes for the parade to even start. It was in the low 30's (rude people in Spokane commented - "You're not complaining, are you?"), so each of us wore about four layers. The girls liked any entry that involved animals, cars or music. The Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps marched (click here for video) and the girls liked them more than they do when seeing this group at Colonial Williamsburg events (I don't know if it was the lack of colonial costumes the men normally wear, the Santa hats, etc). Since Saturday there have been requests for "more parade", so I'm operating under the assumption we will return next year.

Emily
Madeleine
Waiting for the parade to start, Emily on left, Madeleine on right. The girls had a bit of trouble managing to stay upright because of all the layers of clothing.

One of "our" favorite cars.