... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : Joyful Shenanigans

I had a goal of getting one more blog in before the end of the year – obviously, that did not happen. I started this attempt on December 5^th, but as I am sure you know, December is a crazy busy month of joyful holiday shenanigans. Christmas parades, Santa pictures, light viewing, tree lightings, cookie exchanges, Winterfest, wrapping presents, and singing carols. Honestly, about a million things have happened since the last time I blogged three months ago. All the traditional fall activities were completed – hay ride, pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, trick or treat, and costume contests. We went camping in October. My parents came for Thanksgiving and brought my niece and nephew with them. We stayed home for Christmas and spent the day doing crafts and putting things together.

The kids are fully into the swing of Kindergarten. They are both making progress with their reading and math skills. Reading does come a little bit easier for Landon, but Riley is learning and becoming more willing to practice. Her greatest challenge is becoming discouraged too quickly. She easily resorts to tears when she does not know and feels like she is being pushed. I have made dice with sight words and letters for her to practice. We have flashcards. We practice and practice and practice. Landon loves math and will ask us on a consistent basis to solve math problems and he knows an impressing number of answers on his own. Riley has the creative gene and loves to draw and color and tell us stories about her pictures. One over her favorite things to draw is mermaids. She brings home stacks of drawings from school on a weekly basis and I can only imagine her asking the teacher for paper over and over again. I am a little nervous about the kids going back to school on Monday, Landon’s teacher has moved away and we had very little notice. I think he will do well with the transition, but it is a little concerning because he had been so comfortable with Mrs. Chewning and now he has to get used to a new teacher.

At home, life is much the same. The kids get along and play well together most of the time. They currently have a love for the Nintendo Switch and the Kirby game. Riley continues to love animals and building her collection of stuffed animals. Landon is still really into Pokemon and I am proud to say I am a charter member of his Pokemon club. We have a daily meeting on the couch at which our main objective is to catch the Pokemon that have invaded our home. He got a ton of Pokemon cards for Christmas and he lines them up and has “battles.” They love making crafts and prior to last week I kept all of their craft supplies in my closet. I have grown tired of cleaning my closet daily so I added a shelf in their playroom and filled it with craft supplies – except for the paint as I am not completely crazy. They still play dress up, pretend, Legos, and build forts. Riley LOVES riding her bike and has quickly mastered riding on two wheels. Pat has plans to take her to some races this month and let her ride the trail. Landon will ride on two wheels – eventually. He is not in a hurry. He does love to ride his EZ Roller and has mastered the turn from the end of the driveway onto the sidewalk. We got them both roller skates for Christmas and Riley took to hers right away, but Landon got the skates and all the pads on and then did not leave the safety of the garage. Completely different personalities. The both love tumbling class though and show me their new skills every week after class.

Landon’s big news is – he lost is first tooth! I had completely forgotten it was even lose and then Christmas night he was eating some gingerbread and he told me that it made his tooth hurt. The next thing I knew he was spitting a tooth onto the table! They have both been excitedly waiting for this milestone and I have been extra anxious for Landon to lose his teeth since our last dental appointment. She indicated that it was likely that Landon will develop “shark teeth” – meaning his adult teeth will grow in behind his baby teeth if they are not lost first. That statement might as well have been followed by “so start saving your money for braces!” Hopefully he will continue to lose his baby teeth without issue. Landon loves anything science, math, and engineering related. He impresses us daily with his memory and his explanations of how things work. We got him a subscription to a Kiwi Crate for Christmas and we have got two in the mail so far – and both were put together within one day of it being received. He remains a picky eater, but then there are times he will surprise us. The other night he picked up a fried chicken leg and demolished it! We have been adding protein powder to his milk and he has finally crossed the 39.6 pound mark! He will always eat Poptarts, cereal, and PBJ. He has started eating meat, but it will take him 20 minutes to chew one piece of meat and that has to be DISGUSTING by the time he finally swallows.

Riley loves crafts and drawing. No piece of paper in our house is safe from either a pen or scissors. The tiny scraps of paper all over the floor of my closet were the main reason I moved the craft materials to their play room. She plays with her dolls and her animals and I have caught her a few times lining her dolls up on the floor and “reading” to them. She has recently started making an effort in matching her clothes and carrying around a purse. I really don’t know what to do with that one as I am usually either in scrubs or a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. I will admit I wanted her to match her clothes a little better, but I myself and not your traditional girly girl so I will be no help to her. She is still my snuggler and brings me a blanket every morning I am not at work so we can snuggle on the couch. She is also the one that joins us in bed about once a week following a “bad dream.” She loves to sing and dance and the Hubby finds it hilarious when we catch her singing current top 40 songs (with altered lyrics) when we are riding in the car. She has not yet lost any teeth, but she is desperate to do so and put it in her tooth fairy pillow. She takes pretty good care of her hamster, Prince Charming or PC for short. She helps to make sure he has food and changes his water and assists with the cleaning of the cage. Her big news- she is tall enough now to ride some of the crazy coasters at Carowinds! I have no desire to ride with her so luckily she has a daddy that is willing to ride!

Overall, we have been busy, but I am ready to get back to the normal routine of school next week. With school comes boy scouts, girl scouts, tumbling, dance, and all the other extra activities that bring our life routine.