While My Machine Gently Spins

Our washing machine broke last Friday; no spin cycle whatsoever, just sopping wet clothes. After an hour or so of taking apart the machine, putting it back together, and being peppered by Paige's questions, the repair man still couldn't get it to work. He said he'd do some research and be back, but they might have to replace it. Paige was elated that the repair man was coming back to play. Anna was sad no one was turning the machine on for her to watch. I was frustrated that I had several more days with growing piles of stinky laundry piles, and no clean clothes. Emma was happy that she didn't have to wear pants. I haven't asked ask how Jeff felt.

After trying this and trying that, they brought in a new machine today! Paige is sad the repair man is not coming back. Anna is sad the machine is a top-loader and she can't see anything. I've happily washed three loads of laundry already. Emma's still not wearing pants. Still not sure about Jeff.

Anyway, how about some pictures of us not doing laundry, eh?

We finally got a babygate. Striped jammies turn my babies into jailbirds.

Paige helped me make a simple friendship bracelet one day and she decided that she wanted to make more, so we made them for the playgroup Valentine's party. She signed all 15 of them herself. It was fun to see her excited to give them all out. 

Some days, we play a lot of dress-up.

Anna

Boo

Some days, we don't get dressed at all. 

Boo

It's really hard to get pictures of Boo lately. As soon as Anna sees the camera, she rushes over and tackles me. So most of the pictures look like this:

I love post-bath baby mohawks. Anna bumped into the entertainment center shortly after this photo and won herself a black eye to go with the cut on her forehead. Sometimes I have a hard time believing this little dare-devil is sweet Emma's twin sister.

Toes, Teeth, and Mountain Climbing

Paige and I decided to paint each others' nails while the babies napped. After applying the pink paint to my toes with minimal smears, she blew on them and looked at me sternly saying, "Now don't move until your toes are dry, okay? I'll be right back." She went into her room and while I sat on the stool blowing on my toes, Anna started to cry, so I went to calm her down before she woke Emma up. As I was tucking her back in I heard Paige go back into the kitchen and growl. "Ugh! I TOLD her not to go until her toes were dry and I came back!" She stomped back into her room and continued harrumphing until I came in and apologized for not listening.

We were making omelets, and Paige picked up one of the eggs very carefully and said, "One day, I'm going to take an egg and give it to a penguin so that it can be his baby!" That poor, sad, confused little chicken.

Everything magically turned into princesses today! Paige put on her fairy tutu and "poof!" the blinds were princesses! "Poof!" The TV was a princess. "Poof!" The babies are baby princesses! "Poof!" Daddy is a daddy-princess!...

Yesterday definitely won the weirdest-dinner-of-the-week award. I didn't feel like cooking much, so I started making some raspberry oatmeal. But, we needed a vegetable, right? I mean, it was dinner. nd what vegetable goes with oatmeal? Miso-sauted broccoli! Add to that the leftover cold pizza, and I could almost hear Tom Colicchio kicking me off TopChef for lack of cohesion. Oh well. At least Paige actually ate her food.

Emma's finally sitting and crawling! She's wobbly and slow. And her crawling is still army-style, but she's mobile! Emma also has her first tooth! A tiny bottom left one, with a second looking to be close behind.

Anna's the only one left toothless. She doesn't seem to mind though. She's too busy trying to climb the walls. She's an expert crawler now. Most obstacles (toys, clothes, her sisters) are no match for her dauntless curiosity. We've been blocking off the kitchen with a laundry basket, but she managed to crawl into it the other day. She's pulled herself into a standing position a couple times, but then she gets over-confident and lets go or tries to walk. She thinks she's pretty hot stuff.

Holiday Happy

Any time Anna is on the ground lately she bolts for the kitchen to watch the washing machine and to see what she can find on the floor to eat. Luckily, Grandma sent us an early Christmas present to match the one we'd borrowed. I think they like it.

Anna

Emma

 Paige loves her new puzzles and games, but I think that the biggest hits with this girl were the shoes and tutu. She's worn both every single day with whatever accessories she can find. She tells us that her prince is going to come to her house soon and take her out dancing. She also says that Tinkerbelle is her sister and all the fairies need to come stay at our house during winter so their wings don't freeze. Yeah, okay.

As for the rest of Christmas, Jeff and I got a crockpot, a haircutting kit, and a small set of Corelle dishes dishes. I was emptying the dishwasher yesterday, thinking about how much I love Corelle, and without thinking I told Jeff, "I testimony of these plates. They're the best ever." So there you go. 

Otherwise, we've been eating cheese and chocolate in copious amounts while we try to unearth our livingroom floor. 
Oh! We also went to see the lights at the DC temple. So pretty! Paige had fun, and the babies slept.

Happy Christmas!

Snow Day

We've had a couple of really heavy snowstorms out here that shut a lot of things down for a couple days. Tuesday, we were supposed to have a check-up for the twins, but we got a call at 7 am saying that they were closing the office for the day and would call to reschedule later this week. School was cancelled as well, so after shutting our alarm off, Jeff and I went back to bed, dreaming that the babies would happen to sleep in absurdly late.

An hour later, we woke up to Paige running around the living room shouting, "Everybody! Wake up! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" She jumped onto our bed and all sleeping was ended.

With no where else to go, we spent the day reading books,

(Okay, this is from last week when Jeff's dad got to come visit us for a couple days, but it's too cute not to share)

Playing dress up,

Eating (while playing with our toes),

And sometimes just sitting around.

Anna and Boo

It was a pretty good day.

I love my Boo

Anna is crazy wiggly lately, crawling after everyone and everything. For example:

When she gets tired of swimming across the floor, she takes breaks with her favorite blankie:

Thanksgiving!

We were this close to spending Thanksgiving by ourselves in our apartment this year. Luckily, we remembered that Jeff's Uncle Dave and family live not too far away, and quickly invited ourselves over dinner. (Let's have a turkey dinner! You bring the turkey! All in favor?)

We also coerced them into coming out in the cold and taking a family picture of us! ...Manners are not always our strongest suite.

At any rate, they handled our 3-ring circus gracefully, and we had a very fun time. They even put on an ice show! Dry ice in apple juice is awesome, by the way, as is spending Thanksgiving with physics nerds. Ah, science! 

 

Paige had a grand time. She cried when we had to come home.

Shmile for the Camera

Guess who is 6-months-old! We wanted to document the occasion, since we're kind of amazed that we've all survived this long. Plus, Grandma Tucker sent the girls some super cute blankets that make good backgrounds!
This is what most of the pictures of this girl look like these day. Anna is too wiggly to catch right now.

And Emma usually walks a thin border between happy and upset.

These girls are so charming. They both are very well-tempered and smile a lot. For some reason though, even at this age, the camera seems to coax out the most fake, goofy, or over-the-top smiles possible.

Put the two of them together and you either get this

or this

This is the current favorite toy. They fight over the wipes bag almost as much as they fight over binkies.

And, like most all-girl photo shoots, somebody has to show a little leg. Scandalous!

 She's not even sorry. Punk. 

Not Quite, But Almost

Paige announce the other day that she learned how to wink. Mostly, it involves turning her head and blinking. It's pretty cute.

P.S.--I made that shirt!

Both girls are almost sitting up on their own. They'll wobble for a few seconds, then faceplant into their toes. Neither seem to mind very much. They both also can almost feed themselves! Emma's not quite as steady as Anna, but they'll both get a couple ounces in before getting distracted and dropping the bottle. Anna even fed herself most of a bottle after church the other day, saving me a half-hour of crying since Jeff wasn't home (they're too wiggly to feed simultaneously). I think she would have finished the bottle if a box hadn't been more interesting and she had to stop eating to wiggle over.

I can't remember how to turn it back when the camera auto-turns it.

Speaking of wiggling, these girls are movers. Anna especially has people to see and places to go. She rolls and wiggles her way around most of the living room. We had put a box in front of the futon because she would roll under it and kick the mattress. She army crawls a little bit, but hasn't figured out how to get up on her knees.
Emma, on the other hand, has decided that if she has to eat solid food, she'd rather do it herself, thank you. She tries to take the spoon, so I give her another one, but she gets frustrated when hers has no food on it.

If the spoon isn't accidentally dropped, the meal quickly turns into a sword fight, complete with (somewhat) witty banter. 

One thing we're trying out this year is a Thanksgiving tree. Every day we write down something we're thankful for on a leaf, then hang it on the tree. Paige seems to enjoy it, and it helps her practice writing and sounding out words. She wrote 'Mom' and 'Dad' all by herself! She can also write her name, though I couldn't find an example to show off. I'm super impressed