ABC easy as 123

Trenton is a quiet, gentle, sensitive soul.  Verona talks incessantly and he sits back and observes and only makes requests when needed.  He doesn't like yelling by Verona or us.  If he get's in trouble, he cries, not because he got caught, but because he is afraid you are mad at him.  He is such a sweet and thoughtful guy. He is also very smart.  He has been saying his ABC's since 16 months. I credit this with 2 items. First, Nana is a kindergarten teach and her favorite author is Eric Carle.  She has bestowed her love of all things Eric Carle on our house, and we(me) love it! She got the twins this book.

Each letter is representing by an animal that corresponds with that letter*duh*. There are some unusal animals that make it fun and one fake animal. The Unicorn. It drives me crazy, that a unicorn is in the book! But I have to admit, since a unicorn is in the book, I thought that the Narwhal was also fake. I mean, it has a horn just like the unicorn and I had never heard of it. Andy had a good laugh when I told him I thought it was dumb that there were 2 fake animals in the book. He made me pick out the other one. Doh. Trenton loved this book so much, that we had to get a 2nd one because the first one became ripped to shreds. The 2nd one, I had to reinforce all the pages with packaging tape.  We could say to him, "Trent, go find the ABC book" and he would set off to search for it. I love this book for the other reason that both kids made their first animal sound from an animal they saw in the book. An owl.  When Trent started Who Who-ing I would lose it. Soo cute.  He also learned Tiger, Snake, Penguin, and Xolo as well.

The 2nd item I credit with him learning his ABC's so young is this item.

This toy by Alex Toys is amazing.  It has the alphabet, and numbers 0-9.  When he was just leaning, at 14-16 months, we could say "Trent, where is M?" And he would point to M. We would pick random letters and numbers and he would search for them.  We finally decided to stop confusing the poor kid, and would sing the ABC song so he knew the order. On the back of each letter is a picture that starts with that letter, and the back of each number the amount of an item. 5 Apples, Leaf, Horse, etc.

To say that he loves his ABC's and Counting his putting it mildly. If I ask him a questions, and he doesn't feel like talking to me, which is often, he only speaks when he really needs to, he just starts counting or doing his ABC's.  At night, when the lights are off, and he hasn't laid down yet, you can hear him counting" 1,2,3," all the way to 20 and sometimes to 30.  He counts steps he walks down, peas on his spoon, bubbles in the air, ice cubes Andy puts in his drink, couch cushions, etc etc etc.  His ABC's are the best.  Walking around town, we will see Bank of America, Trent" B-A-N-K, Me: Bank that spells bank. Trent: BANK!  Costco is also popular, as they have large letters for their signs all over, and he doesn't quietly say the letters, HE YELLS THEM!  C! O! S! T! C! O!. Yes Trent we and every person knows you can see and spell. 

What Andy and I find most impressive is the shapes.  My mom's mom sold Tupperware all thru the 1950's-80's.  So my mom has LOTS and LOTS of Tupperware.  I remember this toy as a kid. A ball that had shapes that fit into it. Nana got this toy when they were still babies, like 6 months. Here is a pic to jog your memory.

He knows his shapes: square, circle, oval, pentagon, hexagon, trapezoid, pie(that's what we call it) triangle, plus, and star.  We would get all the shapes out, hold up each shape to the kids, and say what it is and give to them. They would drool on it, and set aside the shape.  As they got older they paid more attention to the shapes. Pretty soon we were seeing Trenton pick up a shape, like the oval, and turn the ball over until he found the oval opening. Most kids might try and fit the oval into every single opening, but he didn't.  He would match first. It was like he didn't want to waste his time.  Soon, we were able to dump all the shapes out and he would match them into the correct hole in no time.In the last 6 months, we say "Find me the Hexagon" and he finds the Hexagon, that puts the Hexagon in it's opening.  It was crazy at first. We were shocked! Now we hold up the shapes and ask, "What is this?" While holding a shape and asking him to name it. Plus and Pie are tough, but the rest are pretty easy for him.  Verona isn't as into the shapes as much as Trent, but she is a shape smartie herself.  We have a book, alright, many books, that have a drawing/picture of a stop sign. I always say, what color is this(red), what shape (octagon) what does it say(stop).  They both would say red. Then nothing for shape, and they knew, only because we have seen the sign all over in books and while driving it says stop.  Last week, Verona opened up a book, pointed at the stop sign and said "Octagon".  It wasn't a shape from the shape sorter, but in a book that she remembered.  These two smartie pants amaze me.  I don't compare them to other kids, because all kids are different and learn differently, but I like to think that they are on a fast track of learning. 

Take me down to the Paradise City...............

Andy was born and raised in Paradise. Literally and figuratively.  Paradise, Ca is a real place.  It is above Chico in the hills. There are pine and ponderosa trees all over.  As you enter the town, there is a sign like most small town America.  It has the wood badges for Elks, Lions, Masons, etc and there is a saying on the sign "May you find Paradise to be all its name implies" and there is a halo above the sign made from a saw blade turned into a circle.

Every time the Guns N Roses song comes on Andy has to remind me that when he was in high school, his basketball team warmed up to this song.  Obviously because they were from Paradise and 1993/1994 was the prime time for having a rock song for basketball warm ups.

We decided to venture up to P-Town to see Andy's dad, Grandpa (Papa) and feed the ducks.The park is very nice. It's part of the Aquatic Center and right next to the junior high. 

What tends to happen when we venture out is we each "get" a kid. So that kid ends up with pictures mainly being taken by the parent they were assigned.  I had Verona and she was so chill.  Growing up, we  would keep the heels from the loaves of bread and put in a bag and keep them in the freezer and then we would either make french toast with the heels or go feed the ducks. I have been saving quite a few heels. We fed ducks and geese and there was  this one duck that had what looked like a red mask. I had to look it up, it is called a Black Muscovy. 

There was a fun play area and the day was nice. As in 87 degrees nice.  The sun was on the slides, and when V went down she kept saying "hot hot!" Lucky she didn't grow up in the 80's when all slides were metal and burned you on the way down!

We headed over to Papa's house and get him to come to the park with us. He has a remote control boat so he wanted to try it out in the pond.  But first, we explored his backyard.

After the park we had dinner at Foster's Freeze. And of course we had to have chocolate dipped ice cream cones. Messy of course, but the kids loved it!

Here is a video of them. Gosh they are funny!

Best.Week.Ever.

I know it's only Tuesday, Thursday, but I may be having the best week ever.  On Sunday I got a call from a dear friend telling me they are expecting twins!  I screamed, cried, and danced all over my kitchen. All the kids could do was clap and ask "what you doing mom?"

I put a TON of the kids' summer clothes from last year up on Craigslist to sell.  Craigslist people are strange. You put a price up and they immediately try and talk you down. This was a text message conversation I got from one person:

"I can only offer $30 for both bags, you agree?"-Crazy CL person
"I do not agree. Sorry"- Me

But I did negotiate a bit more, and sold to the CL person!

Then today I got a call saying I won a raffle prize from the Children's Faire we went to on Saturday. I had my choice between a Banana costume or a pink dolly stroller.  It was tough. I chose the stroller. The kids got one for Christmas but broke it after sitting in it. I figured this was their replacement.

And I started a new workout at the gym this week along with a new move. Sumo Squats. I look like an idiot, but love the burn! Plus, my yoga class I started up is amazing. I can definitely tell between my yoga and my Pilates classes I am waaay more flexible. 

And then we are having a date night with Rick and Steph this weekend! I can't wait to spend time with other adults our age, SANS kids!

And today I felt like such a community person.  We have a park in our neighborhood. I saw a flyer that someone from the park division was going to have a meeting to ask all neighbors how the park was working, etc. Since I received my degree in Recreation Management I couldn't wait!  I was of course 15 minutes early, with the kids, and was so excited to talk to the guy about "our" park. 2 more people showed up. We all agreed that the shade situation (there is no shade) needs improvement. When it is 105 outside, every single day, there needs to be shade. I brought up picnic tables, we talked about spraying for weeds, bathrooms, mosquitoes, play equipment, and graffiti (we have none). Overall, I thought it went well and the kids were very good. 

Overall, April is treating me and my family just right.

I couldn't resist. The picture on top is Trenton at 7 months. This was him at 2 years 1 month.  He has really filled out in the face and all over.

Easter

Easter is something I love each year. I see it as a Willkommen im Spring.  Yeh, I just threw some high school German at you! Boom!!  Easter in my family, as  a kid, was always dressing up, going to church, Egg hunts, big dinner with ham with the family. But as I got older, it became cooler, more fun, more...........adult.  We started heading over to my Aunt Judi's house in Kirkland. By now, my brother was the youngest at 13/14.  We still did egg hunts, but the eggs became filled with money! Dollar bills, even a $5 in a few eggs, And for my 21+ aged cousins, they had a beer hunt! PBR for everyone(over the age of 21).  

But we always, always, always dyed eggs.  The house smelling like vinegar (Love that smell), newspaper to cover the table, being yelled at to BE CAREFUL so as not to drop dye on the floor.  The usual.  But as we got older we started to have egg contests. Who had the most beautiful, original and ugly egg.  It was wild.  Each year, people became more and more competitive.  Prizes were won!

And last but not least, as we all got older, my couins' grandma started making jello shots to consume after we all got home from church. Yeh. That's how this large, loud Catholic Family does Easter.  Suffice to say, Easter Sunday was the first time I had ever had a jello shot.  What the what???

The past 2 years we have spent Easter up in Washington, but with my brother getting married in June, it just didn't make sense to drive up there for Easter when we would be driving up there in June. So we hosted Easter at our house this year.  Andy's Dad, his mom, her sister, his brother Matt and his GF Heather,our BFF's Rick and Steph and their son Joesph, plus the 4 of us.  We had so much fun.  The rain kind of ruined some of our fun; we couldn't' do an egg hunt in our yard. But we got lucky, the day before Easter, we took the kids to an egg hunt in Durham and it was small, beautiful weather, and we knew other families (twin mommy families) there.

That night we went out to dinner to Sierra Nevada for dinner with all the family. Uncle Matt and Heather were kind enough to give the kids over 150 crayons. Bonus, they played with EVERY.SINGLE.COLOR that night.  They also got a meercat and a unicorn beanie baby and snuggled with those during dinner. Andy ordered a "Deconstructed banana split" The bananas were covered in chocolate and frozen on sticks. He gave the kids one each. They were in heaven!

After dinner, we put the kids to bed and got started on the egg decorating. We may have had some libations flowing during decorating. For some reason I must have forgot to take pictures, or they are on my other camera and I am too lazy to go see. Let's go with the first reason.

We got up and headed to St. John's the Baptist Catholic Church.  We got there early enough that we got a spot in the coveted parking lot (only has 30 spots) so we didn't have to search for on street parking.  The kids were pretty good (we might have used the iphones on silent to distract them).  We came home from church and the Easter Bunny came!

Verona went straight for the eggs. She knew from the Easter Egg hunt that candy is in the eggs. She is a fiend for sweets. Example, we keep (correction kept, we have no thrown it all away), chocolate or other baking candy in a red bag on the highest shelf in the baking cupboard. She would point to the cupboard and say "choco pease" They each got bubbles, play dough, shovels, rakes, play egg glasses, a DVD of Tangled, and more bubbles.  Like I said, it was raining, so no bubbles that day.

Aunt Terri did get them a Little Tikes Turtle Sand box. It stopped raining in the afternoon and they played with that. We now have sand everywhere in the back patio.  I am hoping the neighborhood cats stay away.

Brunch was wonderful! I made 2 Quiche Lorraines, Andy made monkey bread and a strawberry pretzel dessert, Steph made a delicious fruit salad, Diana made our favorite pasta salad,  Terri made her famous cocnut cake, and we had cookies as well. I made Bloody Mary's (I like Bloody Maria's better, thanks to my great friend Shannon). We had a great day. And we capped it off with our Egg contests. The first contest was for the most Beautiful, Original, and Ugly.

 Pretty inventive right? Andy's mom and dad and Steph all had the idea of blowing out the insides of their eggs to make hollow and then decorate! So amazing! 

The last contest was the Strongest Egg contest. All you do is take your blunt end of the egg and tap someone else's blunt end of their egg, and do the same with the pointy end.  It's fun to walk around and try and find someone who still has a matching end.  There are many techniques that people employ hoping it will keep their end from cracking/denting. The egg just needs to be hard boiled, and obviously dyed make it more fun. I collected all the eggs from that competition and made egg salad the next day. It's funny, when the eggs are all blue, green, red, orange and yellow. Makes for an interesting salad.  Overall we had a great Easter and can't wait until next year. Hopefully everyone starts planning now.