Massachusetts...It's like living in Florida

or maybe southern New Jersey....

Last weekend we got almost two feet of snow.  Today, it was a balmy 60 degrees!  So we did what all New Englanders do when the sun peeks out to warm our cold bones.  We headed to the beach!  Sam wanted to pack a picnic and bring his bathing suit, but we're not that crazy or sun starved.  Yet.

I WISH she was looking at the camera for this one.  She won't.  Ever.

Sam and Grace got capes for Christmas.  I had visions of them running with their brightly colored capes trailing behind them...Unfortunately, there were 30 mph winds, which made the beach feel like it was about 30 degrees and also caused the capes to blow over their faces and wrap around their necks.  Oh well....

They did run though.....

Merry Christmas

There was no Twinkle Family Christmas card this year, but if there had been, it may have looked something like this...

Sugar Cookies

Play dates at my house usually involve a whole lot of running around and destroying things and not many scheduled or planned activities.  Most of the play dates we go to are much the same.  However, I do have a friend or two who organize wonderful, organized and thoughtful gatherings for our children.  For example, a cookie making party for the under 3 crowd....

Complete with gobs of icing...

Hersheys Kisses

and M&M's.

Lot's of M&M's.

And pre lunch cocktails for the mommies....

Keepin' My Eyes on This One....

Checking her out...

Buttering her up....

Going in for the kill....

Looking very pleased with himself....

First snow

Grace saw her fair share of snow last year, but judging by her absolute delight with yesterday's snow, I think it's safe to say, she has no recollection of it.

Getting outside to play in it was even better than looking at it from the window.  She's pretty much telling me here to put the darn camera away and let her play.  "No pictures mommy!"

When you don't finish raking, you get very dirty looking snow men....

Batteries and Pee

Grace is napping less frequently.  The fact that she can get out of her bed and play, or shake her door, is apparently much more enjoyable than sleeping.  I'm no longer able to just read her a story and then tuck her in and walk away.  Instead, we read three stories, I beg, I promise treats, we pray....sometimes it works.

The other day as I held her, she began to rub my breast and look at me longingly.  "Have some milk mommy?  Pwease?"

"Oh, sweetie.  Mommies milk doesn't work anymore."

To which she replied, "Get new batteries?"

Oh Grace, batteries don't fix everything!

I put her in bed and went to my room.  A few minutes later, I heard a door open.  Shoot, she figured out how to open her door!  Then I heard, "Oh hi Sam!"

I ran from my room and grabbed a groggy Sam by the arm.  "What the heck do you think you're doing?"  He said nothing.  He completely ignored me, walked into the hallway, turned and faced the wall and then pulled down his pants and peed in a basket of clean laundry.

Apparently, my son can make messes even when he's asleep.

The unthinkable happened today

I put Grace in her crib for a time out and she climbed out. She called my name from the top of the stairs and proudly announced, "I got out. By myself! Huh!" and stomped her little foot.

I am undone. It's quite possible that I will never get more than 3 straight hours of sleep again.

Rock On!

My nephew Ian is a rock star.

Okay.  A high school band rock star.

My son, well, he's a groupie.

Note the cotton in his ears.  My boy partied till 9:30!

It was a BIG secret.  We didn't tell Grace.  We snuck out after she went to bed.

This morning, he told Grace "I didn't go anywhere last night.  I just went to bed.  Okay?"

When my sister in law called and asked what his favorite part of the show was, he said nothing.  When she asked if everything was okay, he replied, "I really can't talk about it right now.  Grace is here and she will be very upset if she hears."

Nothing like a little truth and honesty and giving your sister credit for being smart enough to figure it out.

"Twick or Tweat"

My dinosaur and Tinkerbell, AKA "Faiwy Pwincess" had so much fun trick-or-treating last night. Grace carried her weight in candy (the handle on her plastic pumpkin actually broke. A nice neighbor taped it back together for us) and stayed up way past her bed time. This morning, when we asked what she wanted to do, she suggested, "twick or tweating"?

Hope everyone had fun!

My Baby is Two

Dear Grace,

Where or where have the last two years gone?  It feels like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital.  So tiny and sweet and new.  And now, well now I have a little girl with a head full of curls, a deep laugh, tons of spunk and a million words.

You delight us.  You make us laugh.  You make us crazy.  You probably have the best two year old sense of humor out there.  You probably also have the strongest will.  I've never met anyone with is much determination as you have.  I can't wait to see where it takes you.

I love to listen to you sing your babies to sleep at night.  There are about ten of them in your crib.  All perfectly lined up, pacifiers and bottles in mouths, neatly covered.  I actually don't know how you sleep.  You're a good mommy.

I love to watch you play with your brother.  You don't always get along, but you love each other so much.  Your favorite time of day is when we pick Sam up from school.  You are so excited when he gets in the car.  He says "Hi, sweetie!" and you grin from ear to ear.  It makes my heart melt.

I love how you want to do everything "self".  Okay, sometimes I love it!  While your brother would let me dress him still, you wrestle with your own clothes and do a pretty good job getting them on.  Even your socks.  You have pretty strong ideas about what you'll wear.  You love dresses and you have never met a pair of shoes that you didn't want to bring home.

I love what a peanut you are.  36th percentile for height and 63 for weight (Sorry my dear, you got my body type).   Although you are shorter than all your friends, nobody messes with you!  People are always amazed when they see you playing with your brother at the park.  You keep up, and considering what an athlete your brother is, it's pretty impressive for someone your age.

So Happy Birthday my Gracie Magoo.  We love you.  

Love, 

Mom

PS:  Would you mind doing me a favor.  Can you try to take this year slow?

"I don't want to let anyone see my wooden cookies.  I need all 12 of them"

LOVE Etsy!  This is the best deal out there.  It's a baby bed complete with blanket and pillow.  I also got a matching diaper bag with burp cloth, bib and cloth diaper.  Grace sleeps with hers every night.

Sam

Won't smile for the camera.  But his eyes?  They're dreamy.  They melt my heart.  He owns me.

This little cutie

Just picked up a plastic piano bench and threw it across the room while yelling "STUPID!"

"Stupid" she learned from her brother.  

No idea where the temper came from.

Yeah.

Lately

I've been wishing that my babies would stop getting so darn big.

I promise...

that we don't this nightly.  If the only thing different about Mac's and PC's was Photo Booth, it would be worth it!

Make sure you turn the blog music off so you can here the musical talent of Family Twinkle....

I Love Mac!

Look what I got!