Early October

The boys helped Meag*an plant a tree to replace our lost elm. that tree was so big, you couldn't even see our house on Google Maps. We're also planting a couple of dwarf apple trees (Honeycrisp and Harelson).


The zoo. A while back, I cut a jump rope in half, tied each piece to one side of the stroller, and started asking the boys to hold the handles and walk alongside. Lo and behold they did, and we can walk quite a ways this way, even in a crowd. People always laugh when they see us.

Sometimes they use the highly original phrase "double trouble". I always wonder what would happen if I just start laughing really hard, like I'd never heard that one before. Would that make me look like an idiot, or them? Forgive me if that sounds a little harsh, but I've heard that about 1000 times by now, it feels like. One lady even told me where I could buy a t-shirt that says that. I once heard a mom of one say to her friend as I walked by, "Twins! If that was me, I'd shoot myself in the head!" Trust me lady, you wouldn't. For one thing, that would leave your children motherless, and you, well, dead. Ugh. I get a little tired of the negativity sometimes. It started before they were even born (though friends and family were of course wonderful to us!) Even fellow moms at our Early Childhood class sometimes make it a bit too clear they'd never want twins. I wish they'd keep it to themselves at least - for what it's worth, twins are a lot of work, but so are a lot of things, and they are also a lot of fun. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world, warts and all! They are my children, and I love them, and they are double blessings, not trouble. At least not more than any other healthy two-year olds.


The zoo monorail in the pouring rain.






The wood ducks at the brand-new Minnesota exhibit.

Sometimes Ollie just needs a smooch. I showed him this picture, and now he keeps coming up to me, kissing me, and saying "take a picture, Mama!"


And N needs some good reading for the way home. Sometimes they babble, bicker, or sing away in the car (N's latest version of Jesus loves the little children is Jesus loves the little grownups. Then he sings "Zacchaeus was a wee little man and Ollie shouts "Get down from there!". ) Otherwise it's dead silence, each boy completely engrossed in a book. I cannot tell you how completely in love with books they are. They have a lovely new habit of grabbing a book, sitting on the couch or in a chair, and just flipping through it for a while. The other day, N was reading a book in the car and he was so into it, he didn't want to come out. I picked him up and stood him on the sidewalk, and he walked all the way to the front door with his face still in the book.


Of course, it's even better when grandma reads to them and Auntie J*en and Zo*e come to visit.


Ollie is very proud of his snow boots.



Zo*e is mobile! She scoots all over the place on her tummy.

She's also eating and gobbling it all up. Runs in the family!


"Cwaffs" Both boys have a very rudimentary grasp of using scissors, and they're obsessed with stickers. Especially on the bathroom floor... We finally have a really decent table and chair set, and since we got that we've been doing a lot more crafty stuff. Perfect timing with winter coming. You know, I'm still not certain whether either of the boys are right or left handed. Every time I think I know, they surprise me by crayoning or something with the other hand. If I hand them something in a neutral way, they're both inconsistent. I think that possibly O may be a lefty, but I'm just not sure. I do know that whenever the boys walk hand-in-hand lately, O is on the right.


On Tuesday, Grandma is going to let us have Zo*e all to ourselves for a bit in the afternoon while she goes to the doctor. Yeah!

At the Wildlflower Garden

The beautiful Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden - a gem of a garden that's located right behind the place where we got married. The boys and I have walked most of the trail over the last two Saturdays, some of it in pouring rain, and quite happily.









Well, there was a threat of a sit-down strike about halfway through last time. They both lay down in the path and insisted that they were babies who couldn't walk. (Oh, I just love the "I'm a baby" stage. Almost as much as the "I do it "my byself!" stage that's happening concurrently. Did you know that my boys can drive cars and chop vegetables with sharp knives? Ask them sometime - they'll tell you all about it.)

I wondered how I'd get two boys out of there if they both completely melted down at the same time, but we got our act together. I just sat under a tree and prayed until they asked me whether we could keep going.




Here they're pretending that the bench is a mailbox, and putting "mail" (leaves) through the slats.


A birdbath that had a bit less water in it after the boys were done with it.

We spent part of the same morning playing in the nursery at the church where Daddy works.



Here they're pretending to be "taaaal trees".




A well-earned picnic lunch outside the church, waiting for Daddy to be done so we could all go home. Why does he have to be with all those other kids all the time anyway?

From September

Here are a few shots from September - I'm trying to catch up!

Grandma came over with Zo*e the other day and spent a little time in our backyard until Auntie J*n came to pick her up.



She is such a sweet and happy baby.




And she has such a silly uncle...


That's our faithful Marcy, my favorite hen. I can have a favorite chicken, can't I?


When you're a twin, a see-saw is a beautiful thing.



Doesn't N have beautiful big, blue eyes? I know I'm his mother, but still..

busy, busy

We have a couple of high-energy boys these days. Here's a half-hour at Hiawa*tha Park:

And they're off!


"Mama! Watch me jump!"










Oli*ver prefers to scale the outside of all the playground equipment, climbing right up and over the walls rather than using the ladders or stairs intended for that purpose. He has a knack for making the other parents look at me (mom) and say only, "wow".


I can see straight to, uh, the other side of the playground!







I'm still picking sand out of his hair...

the ever-quotable No*ah

We had a lot of firsts this week - first Sunday School, first Early Childhood class of the season, and first MOPS class ever. It was a lot - the boys did really well, but acted rather stressed at home, and they're recovering from a sinus thing that hasn't helped. I have it too, going on the third week, and I'm rather glad this week is over. It was full of crankiness, poor sleep, and calamity. Today was topped off by Susan, one of our hens, escaping into the neighborhood for the entire day, only to appear outside the coop at dusk. That was preceded by my wedding band slipping off my finger somewhere between the back gate and the tomato bed. I think I'll need to rent a metal detector to find it. Fortunately, the situation doesn't appear to be a metaphor for anything I can think of, and anything we're dealing with falls easily into the category of "this too shall pass".

At our Early Childhood class, someone asked if her son needed to "tinkle". N asked what that meant, and I told him that "tinkle" meant "pee pee". In the car on the way home he was singing, "tinkle, tinkle, little bottom" to the tune of "Twinkle Little Star". Ahem.

Tonight's quote:
"No Mama! I am not being ridiculously contrary!"

Score one for much-needed levity...

adventures in church

I cried a bit through much of our church service today, and was tempted to cry through Adult Sunday school too, but I pulled it together. What is wrong, you ask? Nothing, really, but it was an emotional morning, and I wasn't the only one shedding tears. Pastors Patty and Patrick, a husband-wife team who had been with our church for the last decade, almost six years of which included me, received their sending blessing this morning as they make their way to a new church in Saskatoon (Canada). They will be very much missed. Both of them connected often with Joe*l and I to see how we were doing during the difficult pregnancy and after, and we were grateful for their prayerful support of us. The boys especially connected with Patrick, and they talked with me in earnest tones today about the fact that he is leaving. "He is not going on a trip! he is going to a new house, and he will never, never come back!"

We have competent interim leadership, but it will take a long time to see what fills the giant hole left in the wake of their absence. Of course, as a small church with a very committed base and a fairly hierarchy, it is really up to all of us to decide how to do that and put our heart and soul into it. I feel up to being a part of that challenge, even as we grieve this loss together as a church body.

Today was also our boys’ first day ever of Sunday School. Now, I know that may not seem like a huge milestone. It’s not kindergarten, or even preschool, after all. They were only apart from me an hour longer than usual. Still, though, it was a big deal for all of us, and I’ll tell you why. First of all – for me it just represents such a huge difference in how the church experience has been for me since the boys were born. In the first couple of months after they were born, we couldn’t really go to a germy, crowded place at all. Then, when they were a bit older, I needed a volunteer to help me get through the service, since Jo*el was across town, playing the piano at Bryn Maw*r Church. The volunteers were wonderful, but it just got harder and harder, as the boys started having stranger anxiety, getting louder, nap schedules interfered, and so on. The 2 parents: 1 baby formula in church is a pretty good one, I’d say. I often felt scattered and stressed during the service, and longed to be able to focus on what was happening. Then, the boys started walking, and were technically allowed in the nursery, but we didn’t have a paid nursery worker in the nursery yet, and No*ah wanted nothing to do with being left with a stranger for an hour. I spent the next 6 or 8 months in the nursery with them, but missed church myself almost every week. It got easier, slowly, and they’ve gone to the nursery just fine since last Spring. It’s been such a blessing to sit with other Christians in church almost every week this summer. We haven't missed a week unless someone's been ill or we were traveling. I had missed it very much, even though I’ve connected with church members through commission work and in other ways.

So now, dropping my boys off for nursery time during worship, taking them for a potty break and to go get a cookie, and then back to the nursery for Sunday School of their own, where they’ll learn their first bible stories and hymns, feels like a big deal. They are in very capable hands. The boys have a wonderful, warm teacher who adores them. Miss Andi brought them to me in the library as my own class was finishing up, and said they’d done really well. They sat nicely for story time, did a craft with the other 2-4 year olds, and sat on the steps in the sanctuary at the end for 15 minutes of singing with the combined elementary groups. They are the youngest 2 in their class, they did great, and they did it all without me. Hallelujah!

This is the boys right after we got back from church:







What's your sticker say, No*ah?

Oh, is that where I get that?