Apple Picking

We went apple picking last weekend. Or should I say apple eating? It was a lot of fun but the kids weren't too interested in actually picking any apples. It was more like one big apple buffet.

For those who are wondering, we went to Stribling Orchard, which is shown in the first few photos. The last two pictures were taken at Hartland Orchard. Stribling had tons of apples both on the trees and on the ground, but was a bit hard to walk around due to the tall grass/brush. Homestead was easier to drive and walk around but had very few apples in large parts of the orchard. We went to Stribling first and then to Hartland but only stayed there a few minutes. We finished the day at the Apple House for lunch. Delicious! The BBQ sandwich was so good, and I'm still dreaming about the warm apple butter donuts. 

On Being 2

On Being Piper

Piper, my dear daughter, you are one of a kind. You have a personality that’s just full of sugar and spice and is just exploding. One minute you’re loving a doll or stuffed animal and the next, you’re pointing your finger at Dad and me saying, “Lay down,” or “Stop talking,” or “No songs” when we’re singing to you.

You have an opinion on everything and want everything just so. You must have your butterfly dinner plate, pink sippy cup, and pink spoon at every meal. If I ever try to deviate from this, you tell me all about it.

You want so badly to be a big girl. You love to help around the house. This past weekend, we set you loose with a Swiffer duster, and you were in heaven. You love to use the water from your sippy cup and a wipe and pretend to wipe up the table. You want to help buckle yourself into your carseat and get a knife from us to cut your own food.

You love hugs and kisses. You ask us for them about a million times a day. It’s the best feeling in the world when you wrap your arms around my neck for a big hug. However, being a clever little girl, you also ask for hugs and kisses whenever you misbehave because you know Daddy and I can’t resist.

Speaking of misbehaving, while you are good so much of the time, you have definitely been testing your boundaries lately. This includes biting poor Fletch, hitting me everyone once in a while, stealing toys that you want, and refusing to get changed into your PJs. We’ve even had reports that you tried to bully an older boy at daycare. While I’m glad you are strong and can stand up for yourself—if this is 2-years old, I can’t imagine what a firebrand you will be at 15.

You’re so beautiful. You’re bright blue eyes light up your face, and you have such a great smile and laugh. You’re going to break a lot of hearts with that face, my dear.

You’re really getting into pretend play and using your imagination. Favorite games and activities include having a tea party, using a kerchief to fashion yourself a dress, and coloring pictures and telling me they are a cow or a dragon.

You’re still a hand model. Anything that requires fine motor skills or dexterity is easy for you. However, like me, you’re also a bit of a klutz, and you trip a lot. You pretty much always have skinned knees.

You are sayings lots of 2-word sentences and doing some 3 and 4 word sentences too. Most sentences start with “I NEEEEEEEED ___” or “I want it!” or “I don’t want to…"

You sleep really well these days. Bedtime is 7pm and during the week, we wake you at 6:20am. You usually nap for 2-3 hours but sometimes you just need extra Mom and Dad cuddles and wake up early from the nap but will snooze while laying on one of us.

You’ve started remembering things and asking about them. You often ask to go to the playground or to go swimming.

Things you love: Dora, Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, your Dora purse, tea party set, coloring, meatballs, sweet potato fries, raisins, playgrounds, Fletch.

Things you hate: A lot of veggies, potato salad or anything creamy except ice cream, not being the boss.

On Being Fletch

My sweet Fletch. You’re my cuddle bear. Your personality is also exploding, but in some ways, you’re still the sensitive, sweet soul that you’ve always been.

You are such a little boy, and. You can’t get enough of the Fisher Price choo choo train that belonged to Dad as a kid. You also have fallen in love with Thomas the Tank Engine, and love to bring your little trains everywhere.

You also love just about any other type of transportation equipment—planes, cars, helicopters, etc. You love to point out every plane that flies over our house, whether you can see it or not, and that’s a lot of planes since we live in the flight path for DCA.

You love hats. Favorites include your straw hat that makes you look like Tom Sawyer, your pirate hat, construction hat, and fire hat.

You love to read—whether it’s reading books on your own or having books read to you.

You also love your sister, but sometimes you need a little break from her and the rest of the world and need to decompress (just like Dad!) and got to your little corner to read for a few minutes. I love seeing you sitting in there enjoying your books. I hope you always love to read as much as you do now.

You have a lot to say and are quickly catching up with your talking. You know tons and tons of words and say some 2-word phrases. You’re especially good with the social phrases like, “Thank you” and “Bye Bye.”

You have a smile that lights up a room, and you love to use it to flirt with other people. Just thinking about your handsome smile and infectious laughter makes me smile and giggle.

You’re getting better and better at using a fork and spoon. You’ve always been a kid who will do stuff when he’s good and ready, especially if there’s lot of praise that goes with it. You haven’t really cared much about using a fork or spoon until lately, but now you’re really getting the hang of it.

Your feeling can be hurt easily and you’re pretty sensitive. You’re a tough boy with the tenderest of hearts.

You love saying night, night to Piper at bedtime. The one time I almost forgot to give you a chance to give her a huge and a kiss, you broke down in tears.

You sleep really well these days. Bedtime is 7pm and during the week, we wake you at 6:20am. You usually nap for at least 3 hours. You really love a good nap, just like me. Sometimes, you’re quite a bear to wake up if you haven’t gotten your full nap, but a few snacks and cuddles and we see your smile again.

You still look just like Dad. Everyone says you’re his mini-me. Sometimes I look at you, and the resemblance is so eery. You have the same facial expressions and everything. And, just like Dad, you often bump your head, so you’re usually sporting one or two goose eggs all the time.

You still love Sesame Street, especially the Mr. Hooper’s Store toy that was Dad’s. Your favorite character is Cookie 

Things you love: Trains, cars, ambulances, Cookie Monster, Mickey Mouse, Bubble Guppies, meatballs, almost any veggies, nectarines, blueberries, naps, hats, pirates, Amanda—your speech therapist, playgrounds

Things you hate: When we can’t tell what you’re saying, being woken up, being bitten by Piper, when Dad leaves the house

On Being Twins

We have so much fun as a family together—whether it’s trips to the playground, apple picking, museums, or just about anywhere. Life is more fun when you see it through the eyes of two toddlers.

For the most part, you get along pretty well. You will give each other hugs and kisses, say night-night to one another, and get upset when the other one is gone.

However, you do have your moments when someone gets bitten, a toy gets stolen, or someone gets knocked over.

Having two 2-year olds is so so so much fun. It’s a lot of work, but also so funny, kind and just amazing in general. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The Big 2.0

It finally happened last week--we made it to the big 2.0 birthday. We survived the first two years, which a lot of twin moms say are the hardest. To celebrate, Eric and I took the day off work for a day of fun with P&F. Of course, as luck would have it, I caught whatever bug Piper had during our Boston trip and was sick as a dog. But, we persevered with our day of fun.

We started at the Playseum in Bethesda. It's this tiny, kinda weird kids museum, which we probably would never have gone to, if I hadn't bought a great Living Social deal a few months ago. Eric and I were kind of meh on it, but the kids had a blast.

Fletch couldn't get enough of the animal room.

Piper preferred the play store.

 They both loved the fire station.

After about 90 minutes of playing and exploring, we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed home for naps. Both kids fell asleep in the car, but somehow we miraculously transferred them to their crib for another 2 hours of sleep, which gave us time to get ready for the party.

If you couldn't tell by her appearance in nearly every photo, Piper is really into Dora these days, so she got Dora decorations. Fletch loves Sesame Street, so that was his theme. I was going to do all one theme, but since P&F are so different, I thought they deserved their own. Both loved the decorations.

As a PSA to other toddler parents: don't bother to get them any gifts for their birthday. Just get a half dozen mylar balloons with various characters on them, and you're set. Piper and Fletch are still going crazy for these balloons nearly a week later.

After naps, Eric's parents came over, and we celebrated. We started with opening gifts.

And an attempt at a family picture. We may have to do a reshoot on that one....

Then it was onto dinner and cake. Unfortunately, as you can see in this picture and just like in Boston, Fletch did not like the cake and candles. I've since learned that it's pretty common for toddlers to be scared of candles and then associate them with cake. Maybe he'll overcome it by his third birthday.

After all that fun, P&F went down for the night and were full of smiles and hugs. They are such cute, smart, loving kids, and I couldn't be happier to be their mom and watch them grow. Happy Birthday, my babies!

P.S. In case all the pictures weren't enough, we also have a video recap, which you can see here.

P.P.S. Big shout out to Little One Boutique for the awesome Dora and Sesame Street shirts. They are great to work with, and did an awesome job customizing the shirts just the way I wanted them.

Summer Vacation to Boston

Two weeks ago, we took our first real bonafide road trip. We have done shorter trips before, but this was the real deal: the 8-hour drive from DC to Boston (Woburn). It was tough but we had so much fun. We also did a lot in a short amount of time, so here's the photo recap. And, if this post is too long for you, just skip down to the bottom of the post for the video recaps. We're a multimedia bunch around here.

Wednesday
We left after P&F woke up and hit the road around 7am. Unfortunately, we didn't even make it to Baltimore before the whining started. Thankfully, I had loaded up the car with new toys, books, and snacks. We also brought a DVD player just in case it was needed. And, let me tell you, we needed it. The typically 8-hour trip ended up taking 11 hours due to all the traffic. I've never been so happy to hear Clifford's voice as when we hooked up that DVD player.

After spending 11 hours in the car and arriving in Woburn at 6pm, we didn't do much else beyond unpack, eat dinner, and go to bed. Thankfully, P&F went right to sleep in my mom's basement in their pack-n-plays with little fuss. The only drama of the night was when Piper brought a wipe into the tub with her and it got stuck in the drain.


Thursday
Thursday, we woke up early and tried desperately to free the wipe from the drain. With no such luck, we left the house to figure it out later with a plumber and headed into Boston to the New England Aquarium. We got there right after it opened, so we practically had the place to ourselves.

Piper and Fletch loved the seals. They were pretty cute.

I told Piper the fish in here was Mr. Grouper from Bubble Guppies, and she about died. She also didn't want to leave the exhibit and kept talking about it the rest of the time.

After finishing at the aquarium, we took a quick ride on the nearby carousel. Piper LOVES "horsies" and carousels.

Fletch isn't such a big fan so he sat on the bench instead.

After all that fun, it was time to head home for naps and to wait for the plumber, who miraculously rescued the wipe. Thank goodness because that night we all had a wedding to go to. Auntie Corinne and Fred finally decided to tie the knot.

Here are the kids, mom, and me all dolled up.

Piper and Fletch loved the gazebo at the ceremony. Piper kept calling it her castle. They also loved all the attention from friends and family. That is, they loved it until the ceremony started. Piper did not like having to sit still and be quiet, so unfortunately, she had to be whisked away by Eric. But, Fletch and I were so happy to see Auntie Corinne get married.

After the ceremony, they had a terrific reception at Polcari's--an Italian restaurant in Woburn. P&F thought the red napkins were the greatest toy in the world.

Fletch also couldn't get enough of the delicious dinner.

Piper hammed it up for all the other guests.

And here is the happy couple...

We had so much fun at the wedding. We didn't get home until about 10pm, and Piper and Fletch didn't bat an eye at missing bedtime or being out late. They knew what a special occasion it was and were thrilled to see everyone.

Friday

On Friday, we decided to take it easy and went to Rockport for the morning. We started with a quick stop at a local playground to let P&F play for a bit before sitting in the stroller. Then, we were off.

Fletch loved watching the boats on the water. However, he was forced to stay in the BOB for part of the time to avoid taking an unfortunate swim.

 

Piper "read" to us from this historical marker.

They loved all the toys in the beach toy store.

After a busy morning of counting boats and pretending to be pirates, we settled in for a delicious seafood lunch. I had the best lobster roll ever. I'm still dreaming about it.

On Thursday night, Laura was nice enough to invite all of the girls and our families over to her house. Piper and Fletch had so.much.fun, especially on their trampoline. Just like last time we got together, it was so cool to see all the kids playing and to have time to talk and catch up.

 Saturday
We saved our final trip into Boston for Saturday where we spent the morning at the Public Garden seeing the ducklings and walking around Boston Common.

The kids loved riding the ducklings. May way for Fletchie!

As you can see from all of these photos, our third child is named Dora. She wears a backpack and has a friend named Boots. She goes everywhere with us these days.

They both have discovered a love for butterflies, especially Fletch. So of course when they noticed all the butterflies in these flowers, we had to watch for a while. For the record, I still think butterflies are gross.

After the butterflies, we did another carousel ride. Piper was in heaven.

After a busy morning, we all napped and then had P&F's early 2nd birthday party. They got so many great gifts.

They also had delicious cake. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of Fletch enjoying the cake because he freaked out at the candles or something and was a mess. But, he still had a good time at the party.

And, as usual, Piper had a great time hamming it up for the camera.

Sunday

Finally and sadly, Sunday came. It was time to go home. Piper woke up looking a little under the weather, but we just hoped for the best. The ride was going really well until Connecticut where she started to get fussy. We pulled off the highway at an exit to look for a pharmacy to get baby motrin, when all the sudden we heard a horrible noise from the backseat. Poor Piper got sick everywhere. So, our quick stop in CT turned into an hour long clean up. However, as you can see, everyone was in great spirits while we cleaned the car. Piper was especially happy when we let her wear Fletch's clothes.

The trip home took 10-11 hours too, so not much better than the way there. We got stuck in traffic, had the delay due to Piper getting sick, and got caught in a big rain storm. However, nothing could ruin our good mood after having such a wonderful vacation.

And as promised, here are a few videos from the trip. Enjoy!

Piper and Fletch at the New England Aquarium

Boston and Rockport

Second Birthday in Boston

Public Garden and Boston Common