T. has learned to ham it up for the camera. It's a big change from the days when she would cry at the sight of it. I think I like her pictures better this way. :)

A little chocolate on his chin only makes him cuter, right?


In looking for some cute pictures to post, I realized something: I need to get the camera out more often. I've been so crazy busy this summer that I keep forgetting to take some really GOOD pictures instead of just the silly ones. Well, soon the beautiful fall weather will give me the itch to do some cute outdoor pics, so then I'll have something better to show off. :)

Thanks for the encouragement in my comments, Shaunna and Shara. I wasn't really trying to make people leave comments (well, not very much), but it is definitely encouraging to know that there are some people who read what I write here. It feels like such a waste of time sometimes. So now I will renew my efforts to keep this blog updated. It'll probably go about the way my efforts to write in my journal regularly go. That is to say, I'll write a few posts and then leave it for several months and then write a few posts and then leave it for several months and so on and so on and so on.

Have I mentioned lately that the twins are into EVERYTHING? We have this latch on the fridge door that's supposed to keep them out. Ha! Not only can they open the fridge and get out whatever they want (picture eggs on the floor, fortunately not broken; a bottle of ranch, unfortunately completely emptied on the floor; the older girl's water bottles, sometimes emptied all over the twins), but after they're done with getting what they want, they kindly relatch the fridge. What is the point of that?!? Right now, they are dismantling everything in F.'s scripture case. And I'm letting them because it's giving me five minutes of peace to write this. But I'll pay for it tomorrow when she sees what they've done. :) They used to not be able to reach things on the island between our kitchen and family room. It's been the repository for everything that needs to be kept away from them for many months, but slowly they're able to reach more and more of it. Now there's a safe strip in the middle and everything else is fair game. Our kitchen chairs live tipped over under the table so that they can't be used easily for climbing on. Recently we had to add keeping the bar stools tipped over, too because they've learned to use the rungs like a ladder. Good thing they're both so dang cute!

I really will try to post some pics of them soon.

I have to thank Jessica for leaving her comments on this blog. It's nice to know I have ONE reader. :) She pointed out that I haven't posted pics of the haircuts. The truth is, this summer has been really hard somehow. I think that two full years of total sleep deprivation have finallly caught up with me and I have just been struggling to keep myself going. So the blog went by the wayside. I have no other excuse. Things are gettting better though. It helps that the twins are starting to be able to communicate better. I. has been slow to learn to talk, and at their 15 month check up, his pediatrician was already talking about speech therapy if he wasn't doing better by 18 months. That just really doesn't fit my parenting philosophy very well. Not that I don't think there's a place for speech therapy, but I just think kids need to be allowed to develop in their own time as much as possible. Also, he was showing no other delays in his development, and he understood us very well. We actually haven't been back for a checkup since because the few times I've taken them in because of illness, they have totally freaked out. So I keep thinking they'll outgrow that. In the meantime, I've been second-guessing myself, thinking "what if I. never learns to talk and then when he's three or four I have to take him for therapy and they think I'm a horrible neglecful mother because I didn't bring him in when he was 18 months????" I'm sure I'm not the only mother who does this to herself. Well, at 18 months I think his ped would have referred him out for a speech evaluation. At two years old, I think she still would have. At two years and six weeks, he's fine and meeting the milestones for his age. He's not talking as much as T., but I'm not worried any more. What do you know, I was right to let him learn to talk when he was ready! I love it when I'm right. :)

In other news, A. is now a champion reader. She's been reading Junie B. Jones the last few days, and she loves to read scriptures out loud with the family. I love it when they make the jump from sounding out all the words to being able to read fluently. It's so amazing to watch. F. has a mouth full of hardware. How does she eat? I have no idea. But hopefully it will all pay off in straight teeth some day. Her bottom expander came out yesterday, but I know she's anxiously waiting for the top one to come out because it's the one that really gets in the way. E. is just as sweet as ever, but I think she's starting to hit some of the pre-puberty hormones. She just cries for no reason sometimes. Thankfully, she's now old enough to tell me that she doesn't know why she's crying, so hopefully this won't be like when she was a toddler and cried for no reason (that I could find). :) She and I have been reading Anne of Green Gables aloud recently and that's been fun for her. She likes having a time that is just her and me. We're reading for a mother/daughter book club that I'm starting. All the moms and daughters read the same book and then we'll get together to discuss it. I wanted the books to challenge F., but that means that I need to read them aloud to E. for her to be able to participate.