Poke It With a Stick -- For Uncle Matt

Last week, the twins and Mommy went outside, and Chance picked up a stick. Mommy thought nothing of it and watched him examine it and turn it around in his hand. His sister was squatting next to him, looking at something on the ground, and then what do Mommy's eyes suddenly see? He pokes his sister with the stick, without warning, without cause. As if he just wants to see what would happen . . . Grace responded with a surprised look, and Chance . . . well, he just looked at the stick again, unphased by Grace. Mommy scolded him with a hidden smile--and called Uncle Matt right away.

After all, that's a signature move from Matt's childhood; whenever he didn't want to touch something but wanted to check it out, he'd poke it with a stick. We could almost always get Matt to poke something strange with a stick; he couldn't resist. Those yucky green, circular, softball-sized blobs by the lake? Get Matt; he'll poke it with a stick.

Soooooo, when we saw a frog in the yard earlier this week, Mommy picked up a stick and poked it gently--it wasn't moving, so how was Mommy supposed to know if it was alive or not? It moved a bit, and then Mommy asked Chance if he wanted to poke it. He declined, not very interested in the frog (and maybe a bit afraid of it). But Grace agreed to do it, and in honor of Uncle Matt, here's the somewhat uneventful video (since Mommy didn't get the one of Chance poking Grace). :)

And Daddy came home from work soon after, so here's another video of Daddy poking it (gently!) with a stick too. You can see the actual frog in this video.

Brushin' Teeth - For Aunt Manda

Over the last couple of months, we've cajoled Chance into brushing his teeth by showing him the train on his toothbrush, so in this video, he says "Thomas the Train in there." And when we first started brushing teeth, his Mommy told the twins to brush because they had to get the "bugs" out of their mouths (something Mommy's Mom said). Then Daddy expanded that into "tractor bugs," which is why Chance says "Tractor bugs in there" in the video too.

Tractors? To explain, Chance is afraid of the scene in the movie Cars when Mater and McQueen go tractor-tipping, but he loves to see real tractors. Still, as you can see in this video, Chance doesn't really brush his teeth--he misses a lot, and Mommy has to tackle him/hold him down to actually brush them (of course, he hates it).

We're grateful that Gracie enjoys brushing her teeth! Wrestling twins twice a day would take quite a while.

(P.S. Aunt Manda is a trained--and awesome--dental assistant.)

Gracie's First Pigtails (sorta)

On a warmer day 'round the beginning of Feb., Daddy decided to doll up his Baby Girl. He coaxed her to stand still while he persuaded those fine hairs into pigtails . . . well, sorta. Lots of loose hair still hangs in the back and the front, but these are her first!
Nestle gets in on the act whenever we go over to the pond--and believe it or not, he listens and won't go into the water!

Also near the beginning of Feb., the Jordans came for a visit, and we fed those ole geese again. We're sad our friends moved to Minnesota (or "soda" as the twins say)! Notice that Tristan, who is at least 1 year younger than Grace, is pulling Grace's glasses off -- SO MANY babies/toddlers do that, we don't know how she stands it!

When we're bored, we (i.e., Mommy) do lots of weird stuff, like cover the twins with stuffed animals (Chance loved it!).

Chance adores lounging on Nestle and says, "I love you, Nestle" while hugging him. So cute!

Other Cool January Events

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' . . . Mommy is either editing a book or, more importantly, spending time with her fab twins these days--Always taking lots of photos of "my babies" (Gracie's recitation of this phrase tells me that Mommy uses it quite often) but not posting to the blog (ugh!). So, to catch up, here are two pics of the twins watching one of Daddy's YMCA flag football games in January. A cold day, but we picnicked and the twins pushed their plastic cars around (see them in the pic?) when not watching Daddy. Yes, Chance actually watched a few times, even trying to walk onto the field to see Daddy, but Grace mostly entertained herself with random stuff.

Our picnic--the twins actually got another use out of those winter jackets!

Just a pic of Chance's groovy "just woke up from a nap" hair.

Our very dear friends The Merritts came to visit over Lizzie's birthday. Here are the Merritt kiddos with Gracie--don't they look so alert first thing in the morning?

Charles picks up and carries Gracie, to her delight.

And here we all are at Jestine's Kitchen (OMGosh! Delish!). While we waited for a table, Bill Murray came and stood next to Mommy, and Mommy handled it all in stride, coolly saying, "Are you who I think you are?" To which Murray said, "I'm not sure. I don't know how you think." Then, again so-coolly, Mommy said with a stupid grin (as described by Daddy), "Can I shake your hand?" I introduced myself, then pointed to my hubby and the twins, saying "That's my husband Eric and our twins." Bill's response? "Poor guy" (with a grin). And that was basically it. The Merritts and Daddy weren't quite sure that was Murray at the time, but the waitress confirmed it, explaining that he comes in quite often. Happy Birthday, Lizzie! We love you!

What We Do in the Evenin's

We spike Chance's hair and put his funkiest PJs on him, let the twins wear their shoes, and eat fish crackers . . . Daddy goes crazy with the pipe cleaners, making Princess Gracie a tiara and wand.

And we put swim diapers on our heads . . . Good times.

New Year's in Colorado

A long time since the last post--Mommy busy editing books (yay!) and fighting off the neverending sinus infection (arrgh!).

The 4th and last Christmas celebration: Grammy Sharon's in Parker, Colorado. (See VIDEO at the end.) We arrived on New Year's Day, our frequent flier miles taking our free trip through TWO connections--a very long travel day! But the twins are seasoned travelers now, our GoGo Babyz attachments to their car seats definitely worth the cost as we pull them around the airport in their luxurious Britax recliners. :-)

At our family Xmas, Gracie got a new baby doll, or "baby daughter" as she called it, and she fed it with a baby bottle that Mommy actually used when she was a baby 38 years ago (see picture)! , Gracie was petrified of her new laughing Cookie Monster (and actually still won't let Mommy turn it on at the time of this post), but the twins loved playing dress-up with some girls' hand-me-down costumes. Grammy found Chance's obsession with the princess high heels quite humorous. Chance: "Oh, doesn't this look fab-u-lous on me? Don't tell Daddy I'm wearing it, though." Gracie shakes her "groove thang" as Snow White . . .

We took the Lightrail to downtown Denver one day, one of Chance's favorite trips.
Aunt Gill and Uncle Sam held Gracie for some of the ride.

And, of course, we used the new sleds from Grammy -- First, Daddy with Chance on the driveway (Gracie wasn't sure about it) and then Daddy with Gracie up in Conifer, CO (Chance cried all the way down the hill).

Great Aunt Haze gave the twins such perfectly suited gifts: a tea set for Grace and a tool box for Chance!

Aunt Gill brought the kids their first woodworking project from the Home Depot kids' classes: bookends! While Mommy and Daddy were in Colo. Springs visiting Shannon (for a yummy pork dinner), the twins build and painted the bookends.

The little builders:

And the new bathtub toys (Thanks, Aunt Gill! Chance still loves them!) and paints also were a huge hit.

Evidence from the Scene (Aunt Manda 'n' Twins while Parents Were Away at HS Reunion)