Two Peas In A Pod

Christmas 2009 / New Years 2010

I was really hoping that this year with the girls being a year older and understanding the whole "Santa" experience more that I would be able to tell everyone about how great our Christmas was this year.

The holidays started off great, we had the girls mini Christmas concert at their dance studio which was so cute. They had been practising for a few weeks and during those weeks the parents were not allowed to watch. It was suppose to be a surprise for us all. It was really sweet to see all these little girls dancing around for us while we took pictures and videotaped them to all the famous Christmas songs.

We also spent a day over the holidays at Auntie Nikki's house with all the girls cousin's. They always have such a great time together. The plan was to take all the kids skating and then head over to an indoor play ground. The play ground was a huge hit, whle the skating was not. One foot on the ice and both of them had a complete melt down. We'll have to give it a try again soon.

Olivia with her cousin Tori, aren't they adorable!!!!!!

Avery and cousin Sierra, so sweet!!

I just love spending time with all my family and I love watching all the kids play and be silly together. They are all growing up so fast. Yes that's a hampster in Avery's hand. She has been trying to convince me to get one. She has even mastered the puppy dog eyes at me.

Christmas Eve was even a blast with them. They were so excited about Santa coming that they were bouncing off the walls all day and night.

Around 7p.m both girls asked to go to bed which was a little strange seeing as it wasn't even close to being their bedtime. We thought that maybe they were just really excited and thought that the sooner they got to bed the sooner Santa would be here.

Around 6a.m came Avery into our bed saying that she wasn't feeling too good. Soon after Olivia joined her but did not want to go back to sleep. So Olivia and I headed downstairs and to my surprise she had no desire to open any presents that Santa had left. She preferred to lay on the couch and just look at them. After about an hour, I went to get Avery up to see if she was ready to get into her presents. She got up and was excited but once we got downstairs everything changed.

That was when all hell broke loose in the house! Both girls began vomiting and this continued on and off for about four hours.

These are the only good pictures I managed to get of them. All the rest, they have pretty sad faces.

Our little Bella was very tired by the end of opening presents. She played with every bow and piece of paper she could get her little paws on.

Things turned around by the next day. The girls both had runny noses but the vomiting and fevers were gone.

We kept up our tradition of taking the girls to Riverside park this year on New Years Eve. This year was much more exciting than last year. Not only did we ride the Merry Go Round, but Avery for the first time ever did it all by herself! Usually anytime we take the girls to a fair she always wants one of us to hold her. This year, I guess she decided she was ready to do it on her own, and she did. It was exciting for me because normally to get a picture of her one of us has to duck out of the way so it looks as if she's doing it by herself. BUt, this time she really is!!

We also stayed at the park a little late this year. Since they were feeling so much better we decided we would play in the playground and stay to see the fireworks.

New Years Day we headed over to Baka & Dida's house for dinner. We had missed Christmas dinner with them since the girls were sick. Here are the girls with their cousin Nicholas enjoying their favorite thing in the world, ice cream!!

Finally An Update!

So it's been forever since I've updated everyone on what we've been up to and how the girls are doing.

The girls are almost 4 months into their first school year. Their first week of school was great, but from then it seemed to go down hill. We had a really hard time for awhile getting the girls off to school without lots of tears. I too was getting frustrated because when they would come home, I would find FULL lunches in their lunch bags. Finally after a few weeks I contacted their teacher and told her that things had to change. They both were coming home starving, and seemed as if they would eat anything in sight. So of course dinner became a write off on school nights. She told me that she would monitor them more during the lunch hour and try to get them to eat. Since then, they have been coming home with almost next to no lunch and are not as hungry after school.

This week we have the girls "parent -teacher" night and I am so excited to hear what she has to say about them. Especially since they are enjoying going to school more now. I recently met a few of their little friends at a Birthday party and they are a really sweet group of kids.

Since I am so far behind with an update, I thought I'd post some pictures that have been taken this fall.

Our first Fall outing was to Fruittogo. This year, I swear it was about 5 minutes into apple picking and the entire basket was full! They love picking apples and always look forward to getting out to the orchard.

We also took the girls to the Rockton Fair this year. All I can say about this fair is AWESOME! we will be heading back every year. The girls both really enjoyed the pony rides, the dog show, and of course the smash up derby at night. They got a big kick out of watching the cars smash into each other over and over again.

We also have a new family member named Bella. Olivia and Avery have been bugging me for so long to have a kitten and of course I always knew I would get them one since I love animals, but I wasn't planning on getting one this soon. But I completely caved when I saw this sweet little face.

Bella is now 12 weeks old and I have to say she is the sweetest little thing ever! She loves to play like most kittens do, but she also really loves to cuddle. She could be in full play mode, but once you pick her up and hold her for awhile she falls asleep right in your arms and will actually stay there.

Her favorite place to sleep is in Avery's bed. And of course Avery is loving it. There have been a few occasions I've had to go in to Avery's room and take Bella out because she will wake up Avery by playing with her hair and jumping on her toes.

We didn't have the greatest Halloween this year. The day before Halloween was when the H1N1 clinics opened their doors to start the vaccines. After a three hour wait, we finally got in, got our H1N1 shot in one arm and the seasonal flu shot in the other. Both girls developed fevers and my poor little Livvy was vomiting most of the night and into the next day. She wasn't fully up to going out trick or treating, but she was such a trooper and stayed out for about an hour.

Avery only developed a fever that lasted a day. She tolerated the shots very well. Just complained of a very sore arm for a few days.

These last set of pictures were taken at the first Santa Claus Parade they girls went to. This was an evening parade in Cambridge, I didn't make it to this one with them , and from what i hear it didn't even come close to the parade in Waterdown that we also go to every year.

See they haven't changed since my last update, still as silly as ever!!

New Designs & A Giveaway!

Right now Priscila at "Little Miss Heirlooms" is giving away one of my custom designs. Check it out here

There are also lots of new designs on my other site. If you haven't been over in awhile check them out here

Giveaway ends November 24Th!!!

GIVEAWAY AT GROWING YOUR BABY!!

Right now over at www.growingyourbaby.com one of the best giveaways is going on!!

Having two little girls, I know how exciting it would be to win this awesome play kitchen. So....if you would like an opportunity to win this, Growing Your Baby has one to giveaway. Head on over and enter.

First Day Of School!

This past week the girls started their first day of school. I got them up early Wednesday morning and boy were they excited. So excited that they were jumping and singing around the house when they were supposed to be eating their breakfast.

I had always known this day would come and I had expected it to be a very emotional day for me. But I think seeing them so excited that morning about starting school just kept me smiling.

Here they are posing for a picture just before we left. The princess backpack was a MUST! I had my eye on other one's but they wouldn't let up about having the "Princess" backpack. When I was walking them to their class all I saw going down the hallway was about a million of the same backpack's. And not only did the other kids in other classes have them, almost every little girl in their class also had the same one. It's a good thing I put their names on everything!

When we got to school we had to wait outside for a bit for their teacher to come and get them. Both were pretty impressed with the big park and playground that was there.

This is probably the only good picture of got of them inside their class. They were both still very excited about being there until one other little girl in the class became hysterical. I think it caused a bit of a chain reaction because my two very excited little girls all of a sudden wanted to go home. So I thought for sure me having to leave would not be good. But with a little distraction from the teacher's helper, I did manage to sneak out. Halfway down the hall is when my sunglasses had to come out because for the very first time ever I was leaving them with a complete stranger for an entire day! By the time I got into the car I had pretty much pulled things together and I kept telling myself they would be fine.
I spent most of the day cleaning parts of my house that have been neglected. I actually was so busy that day, that before I knew it, it was time to go and pick them up.


As they walked out of the school, they both had huge smiles on their faces and asked if they go back the next day. They LOVED it!! They have talked about school everyday and can't wait to go back.

Just wanted to let everyone know about a fun and exciting giveaway I am having right now over at my other blog

Little Bits Of Me!

Contest ends August 24Th

Adventure's In Strawberry Picking!

One of our favorite places to take the girl's in the summer time is Springridge Farms. I thought that taking them this year would be even more fun since they were at a perfect age to go strawberry picking.

Well my fabulous plan ended up being a huge flop! about 5 minutes into it both girl's decided they had enough of picking strawberries and wanted to go and play in the hay. This is what we usually do at Springridge but to our surprise this year the farm has decided to charge entrance for everything! Not that I mind paying for the girl's to play there but it really isn't that big of a place and their playtime usually only lasts about 10-15 minutes at the most and then they are ready to leave. So I think we'll be spending a bit more time at the other farms this summer playing.

Here we are on the tractor on our way to the strawberry field!

Olivia before she realized picking strawberries was actually work!!

We managed to get quite a few strawberries picked in the little time we had. The girl's were so eager to get out of there.

Avery enjoyed eating them more than picking them!

Maybe we'll have better luck next year.

IMAGES OF SUMMER!

Scooter Rides...

Playing in the dirt...


Enjoying an ice cream cone...

Exploring Nature...

Feeding the ducks & Being cool

These two really are the coolest kids ever!

LOOK WHO'S 4!

Time has really flown by since that bittersweet day four years ago. We've been through a lot over the past four years with our girls, and honestly every bit of fear, worry and doubt has all been worth it.

Usually on their Birthday I find myself getting a little teary thinking of how their life began, but this year I am actually focused on the two little beautiful girls they are. It has taken a long time to get past those three months that the girls were in the hospital as well as the year after, wondering what the future would hold for them. I don't think we ever will get over that, but at least it is getting easier to deal with. It changed our lives forever in a lot of ways.

So I know it's been forever since I've updated and now I am at a point where it would take days or even weeks to upload pictures and update everyone on the different things that have been going on. So I decided that I would post some pictures of one of the most exciting days of our lives recently. Olivia & Avery's first dance recital! It was the sweetest thing ever. Both Brian & I expected all these little girls to be going in all different directions and of course it turned out to be the complete opposite. All of them did a great job at remembering their dance moves and the words to the songs.

Here they are all done up for the big recital, showing off their roses they got from Baka & Dida for doing such a job!

One of my favorite pictures of the night. Avery belting out the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Waiting backstage and getting a little silly.

Posing for a pic with friends Brianna & Megan backstage

I've also been busy lately stamping up a storm!

I am having so much fun doing this that it's all I think about now.

Here are a few of the pieces I have done so far, to see more check out my new blog this is also part of the reason I haven't had time to update here.

There are lots of different designs and I am planning on having some fun giveaways from time to time!

The girls and I spent the day shopping today. I took them out and let them pick out something they wanted for their birthday. Of course we came home with Barbie. There's a surprise! I swear some days I think our house is being taken over by Barbie and the millions of little shoes, combs and any other little bits the Mattel people can throw in the box just to drive a parent insane! Honestly why is everything so small? Do they not realize that kids hate to pick up their toy's and because of it, us parents are injured in the process. If you've ever stepped on one of these tiny pieces like a barbie shoe, you know exactly what I am talking about.

This year I went against my own beliefs. I always swore my kids would NEVER have a scooter. Well I caved. So tonight after dinner we gave the girls their presents to open and the first was this scooter. Of course they loved it! We put it together right away and headed out. All the other kids on the street are cruising by us, some even without a helmet. While I had the girls all done up in full gear from head to toe. They both really did a great job on them for it being their first time. I will post picture's of it as soon as I upload them.

I am excited to see what the age of four brings. Three was a great age, so eager to learn and try new things. I have heard from a few parents that I know that four is even better!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL'S WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!