The Count and Contessa

I finally finished them!!
I started them about a month ago, and lastnight I finished Contessa's clothes.

Mommy Daughter Days

The twins are almost 4.

We rarely separate them.

The time has come for me to do it.

They are asking for 'private time' with mommy.

On several occasions I have separated them for individual appointments, but for the most part they are together. When we do 'divide and conquer' One of us has the twins and one of us had Edie. On the several occasions that I have separated them I find myself reaching out the hand not being held looking for a tiny hand to reach out for it. I scan the row of car seats and it feels very vacant having one or two out three empty.

The twins started school about 3 weeks ago and it gave me a chance to have some quiet time with Edie. We have been working on new words and just spending time together reading and cuddling. It's amazing how much she says now, and how many opinions she has about EVERYTHING!

Aubrey asked if she and I could have 'private time'. I asked her what it was, and she said it was 'just me and you time'.

My eyes welled up and my heart ached.

Yet again Aubrey is paving the path of individuality.

Not only was she the one to come TO ME about a hair cut, but now she is the one telling me the twins need 'just you and me time'.

It was planned.

Last Wednesday Aubrey and I kicked it off.

Grammy B usually takes all 3 on Wednesday's for 'Grammy days'. So we worked it out that Ray and Edie would stay with her and Aubrey and I would go out. We had errands to do, and she had a boatload of questions that needed answering.My brain was exhausted by the end of the day. I asked her to think of a treat she would like to get.

'I'll think about it mama'.

To start our adventure I stopped for a coffee and at the drive through I asked for an apple juice as well. They said they did not sell bottled beverages at the drive through and that I needed to come into the store if I wished to purchase one.

We parked and I unbuckled Aubrey. 'Mama what are you doing?' I told her we were going into the store so she could get a drink.

Her eyes LIT UP. 'I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE' she squealed.

She was delighted. She skipped into the store and picked out her OWN drink. ( If I had all three I would of kept driving). She paid with coins from her purse and thanked the clerk. I opened the door to the truck and she turned to face me clutching her bottle of juice.

'Mama, THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!'

She made sure I was following the speed limit, and reminded me to put my seat belt on, not to forget my cell phone, wallet, and to lock the door of the truck.

She wanted to know the who, what, when, where, why and HOW of EVERYTHING!!

Still undecided about a treat...

She chose Bugaboo Creek for lunch and we TALKED ALL through lunch about the building, the talking animals (she wanted to know where the wire was and where it was plugged in). She listened to the conversations at other tables and asked ME questions about what THEY were talking about.

We had been in and out of several stores looking for 'the treat'...neither of us knew what it was or what it would be. She spent most of her day undecided about what she would like to buy as a special treat. She buzzed around the stores. She could not choose one thing, she picked up this and that and finally....FINALLY made a choice. For her special treat she chose a tiger mask, it was at the end of our day, the last store we went to. This was the last chance for her to pick something out.

Reagan and I had our Mommy Daughter day the following Wednesday.

It started the same way, dropping Aubrey and Edie off at Gramme's.

We headed out on our journey. I stopped for an ice coffee, she ordered a doughnut.

We went to Walmart to pick up a few things for the dolls I was making. Upon exiting the truck she reached her hand out to me and said 'please take my hand kind sir'. I smiled and realized the game had begun. Today she was to be a princess, and I was the coach driver She asked if we could stop and look at the jewels. We paused and scanned all the kid stuff. . She eyed some jewelry sparkly trinkets. We paid for our other goodies and again she held out her hand and said she was ready to get into the coach.

She asked if she could get some jewels as her special treat. I said yes. Thinking we could find some costume jewelry at the dollar store. NOPE. We looked, we looked and she kept tapping the box or holding them in her hand saying 'this isn't Exactly what I was thinking'. We chatted for a bit 'Like yours mama' and come to find out she wanted something on a chain like I wear.

The search went on. It was her special day so we searched....searched.... and searched...this was to big, to expensive, she liked earrings but I had to remind her she did not have holes in her ears. She hummed and sang songs for most of the day, lingering for a LONG TIME looking at all things that sparkle. She wanted to listen to the radio and commented on the changing leaves and how beautiful they were.

Finally I said 'let's go back to Walmart did you see something there?'

'YES!' She said. As we entered the store, she lead the way. Determined to have jewels to wear to lunch. She found a unicorn necklace and matching rings. She paid. We put them on in the car.

At lunch she sat quietly playing with her necklace and rings, being sure to point her pinkie when she drank from her kiddie cup.

She said she was ready to go get sisters right after lunch. We finished up and went to Gramme's.

Reagans Letters

Almost Bedtime

Jungle Drop Show Family Photo

So Cute!!!

PONY RIDES!!!!!

Reagan went first, with just the pony escort. She went right up to the pony and was dancing with delight 'how do I get on, how do I get on?'. Aubrey went second on a different pony, and just the escort. Edie went last, I went with her to hold on to her waist she looked so tiny on this pony. It neighed all the way around the ring.

I had as much fun as they did!!!

Close-Ups

We swam through the soup of thick humidity today.

Todd and I sat under the patio umbrella and the kids played in the rain. They splashed in puddles and tried to catch raindrops on their tongues.

It was soupy and there was nothing else to do but cool off in the rain.

I've started to go through all the pics of the twins over the last year to put their birthday card together. It's hard to believe they are going to be 4!!

Daddy Face!!

Around The House

Cabin Fever Chair: 1999-2008

(December 2007) This is the best picture I could find of Todd's beloved chair. We didn't exactly agree on the fabric choice, but this was to be HIS chair.

For those of you that have 'experienced' this chair recently it has been (literally) quite a ride.

Many a bolt hath snapped, and we spent the evening repairing.

Todd became quite a pro at fixing the SAME bolt. He would flip it, I would pick out the tiny treasures that had fallen into the tear along the seat abyss, then vacuum, and by the time I was done picking out tiny toys and coins he would have it fixed.

The springs were gone and as soon as your bottom sat down, it just kind sucked you in like quick sand.

More bolts broke and pieces of wood would mysteriously appear when we flipped it to fix it. Todd with sigh knowing the end was in sight.

Sadly it began to have accidents, yes accidents, by this I mean when we would turn it over to 'do the repair' we would find grease stains on the carpet. We would put a towel under it, and give a pat on the arm rest as if telling it to hang in there.

The arms began to bow out, and it would lean towards the right, the foot rest would shoot up launching you backwards, the handle would no longer rotate and you had to rock the chair to get it to kick out. Getting it back down was the trick, you had to rock to and fro and with that force the foot rest would shoot down.

Then it stopped rocking, and it just kind of settled, like their was some sort of internal break down. From there it creaked and cracked, and moaned as if asking to be put out of it's misery.

Todd gave it one last flip and loaded it into the truck last night,

I waved goodbye to it this morning.

It's eerily quiet.

He brought it to the transfer station and he said it was hard to push it over the edge into the gaping mouth of the dumpster . It was swallowed in one big bite. I picture Todd hanging his head, shuffling his feet, and getting back into the truck, looking in his rear view mirror to see if it was peeking up over the rim of the dumpster.

We brought the green couch up from the basement and put it over the recliners grease stained spot. We sat down and peeped a familiar creek...

My Babies Are Almost FOUR

Reagan & Aubrey (November 14th, we were getting ready to go home)



Reagan and Aubrey (almost 4)

Born on the same day, 47 minutes apart.

Lately, they love to disagree .

A Day At The Beach

Sofia wanted to hug Reagan, Edie wanted to hug Sofia, Sofia kept running from Edie