A few things to be thankful for

I cannot believe this Thursday is Thanksgiving! Time just keeps going faster and faster. I am so excited to pack up my family and head to SLC for the holiday and even more excited that my little sis and dear friend Emily have offered to drive me back home so my little beauties and I can stay a few days longer. I love everyone being in the house on Thanksgiving eating, preparing food, listening to Christmas music, and watching football. It's just a great day. Despite all the naysayers...I have been listening to Christmas music for about two weeks now and am LOVING it. I can't believe that a year ago my little girls were teeny tiny and were just trying rice cereal for the first time and this year they will enjoy a real Thanksgiving feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie. But who knows what they'll actually eat....they've been obnoxiously picky lately. Nevertheless, I am thankful for holidays, music, trips to see family, and delicious food.

We had a very fun visit from Grandpa Meakin who happened to be in Denver for a conference last week. The girls acted a little shy when they first saw him but it only took about 16 seconds before they were climbing all over him and having the best time. I am thankful for wonderful Grandparents.I finally finished the last of the raking and leaf bagging on Saturday. OOooof. I have a major love/hate relationship with it. For the first 45 minutes or so I really enjoy being out there in the crisp air, raking up leaves, and feeling some pride in taking care of my home. But from then on it is pure drudgery. I swear I have spent at least 10 hours out there the last couple weeks...which doesn't sound like much but IT IS. Most of the work has fallen on me because it's dark before Ben gets home during the week and our Saturdays are always very busy. Fall is my favorite season but that has been tainted a bit by all this blasted yard work.

I grew up in a house where we had very few leaves (or so I recall...I probably didn't help much with the raking) but I do remember always wanting more leaves to pile up and play in. I definitely now understand why my dad got mad at my older sister and I for going down the street to the church lawn and hauling bags of leaves back to our house to dump all over the place. Awesome. I am thankful for such a wonderful childhood, my own home, and hard work (kinda).

While I was busy with the leaves, Ben put up our Christmas lights. I wanted them done early because I won't be back in town till December 2nd and that's too late to start decorating. Once the lights were all up, we went and stood in the street to see the official lighting and I was bummed to find out that the white lights we had bought were those bright white LED lights that are more reminiscent of a tanning bed than Christmas. BOO. But because I'm a shrew of a wife and Ben is a champion of a husband, I requested that these lights be taken down and exchanged for different ones-- and it was done with almost zero complaining! It just seemed silly to keep lights (that will hopefully last a few years) that I'm not happy with and Ben agreed. Round two with colored LED lights was a complete success. Ben is the very best and the only one who would ever treat me so well. I'm so thankful he's mine.

Rosie and Evie are absolutely mesmerized by the Christmas tree. Eve was throwing a major fit upstairs because she didn't want her pig tails put back in after nap. When we got to the top of the stairs and she spotted the tree glowing in the front room she went completely silent. They love it. I am thankful for twinkling lights and things that make Christmas magical.We also made it out to the zoo on Saturday and saw the sweetest pair of lions napping together. We stood and watched them for a long time and eventually one stood up, licked and nuzzled the other one, and let out some awesome roars. They reminded me of Rosie and Evie. I am so thankful for my girls and that they came as a pair. It is just an awesome experience being their mom. I am also thankful for the zoo and sunny days that let us get outside as a family. (Here is the favorite stroller that was eventually destroyed from too many arguments and too many little girls trying to climb inside it.)As part of NO Nonsense November, Ben and I have been reading the scriptures together every single night. It has been the most successful run of complete consistency that we have had for a very long time. I am proud of us and I'm loving the stories we are reading and how much I WANT to read before we go to bed. I am so thankful for the Gospel in my life and the power and peace that comes from doing the little things. The simple, daily choices make all the difference.

I have A LOT to be thankful for- so much more than mentioned here...and a pan of chicken black bean enchiladas that need to be taken out of the oven.

November

Our internet has been funky this week and I haven't had anything too exciting to post about. I thought I would take the opportunity to write down some little things for myself...cute baby things I want to remember.
One Friday morning a couple weeks ago we woke up late and realized we had forgotten to take the trash out for pickup. We had lots of extra bags of leaves to get out to the curb so we both jumped out of bed, pulled on some clothes, and hurried to beat the garbage truck we could hear booming around the neighborhood. While we were downstairs we let Clover out into the backyard. We came back up stairs, Ben jumped in the shower, I got the girls up and let them play while I brushed my teeth and put my contacts in. About three minutes after leaving them in the bedroom I peaked out to check on them and only Rosie was there. I looked for Evie on the other side of the bed, in the hall, the nursery, in the extra bedroom, but she was nowhere. I yelled to Ben that Evie was gone and dashed down the stairs to find out where she had escaped to. That little adventurer had gotten through the gate at the top of the stairs, down the stairs, through the family room, out the door (which I assume didn't get latched shut after letting Clover out), and into the backyard. I found her busy as can be in the frozen sandbox in her pajamas acting like this was all apart of the normal morning routine. Scary at first but pretty funny. Evie is soooo fast and for now is the more outgoing of the these two sisters. She is our rough and tumble girl who loves to clobber and be thrown up in the air and onto the bed. On the flip side, Evie also LOVES to be read to. She picks up books and walks backwards into your lap. Evie is also much more interested in TV. She will sit on the couch and watch an entire episode of Mickey Mouse Club, happy as a clam. She plays hard but knows how to sit back and relax.My sweet Rosie doesn't like TV all that much and will only really watch the opening song before taking off to do something else. Rosie doesn't have a very long attention span and usually won't last an entire book either without trying to wriggle free...but I think she is getting a little better. She is much more content to read to herself. I find both girls everyday sitting on the fireplace with a stack of books jibber-jabbing away. Rosie is also a big cuddler. She has become very attached to one blanket in particular and holds onto it tightly before leaving her crib. She walks everywhere holding it to her face, constantly tripping over it. Rosie also loves laundry and playing dress up. She finds clothes all over the house and is always putting them over her head to try on. Super cute.
Both Evie and Rose have a lot to say and love to talk, talk, talk but neither have very many words at 16 1/2 months old. I've done some reading about this and it is common for twins to develop language a little slower. This is because of their prematurity at birth, their use of Twin Talk (where they are content to imitate each other rather than adults and develop their own kind of language) and because it is simply impossible for parents to give each child as much individual attention as singletons (this last one makes my heart hurt). But in time they will catch up and I'm sure they are going to be just fine. They do say mom, daddy, dog (or do-), hi, and no-no --albeit a little haphazardly. Oh man, it's tough being a mom. I'm constantly tempted to compare my cuties to other kids...other kids who already know dozens of words.Something I really NEED to do some reading about is teaching toddlers about sharing and taking turns. Rosie and Eve are playing with each other more and more and it is so fun to watch but it also means squabbles are starting to be a frequent problem at our house. We were at Babies R Us this week and spotted a little toy stroller that a friend of mine has that the girls always love playing with. So we decided to get ONE...and I'm still deciding if that was a mistake. Our girls have tons of toys including lots of similar things that you can push around the house so we figured one was enough and it's good for them to learn to share. Well, there have been lots of battles since that first night. Evie is most definitely the loudest when it comes to quarrels but Rosie will resort to fighting dirty. She is now officially a biter. Not good. (perhaps the only good reason for letting her keep that binky a bit longer). In other news:
My brother in-law Chris got a job offer which is really exciting. We are helping them move into an apartment this weekend. I'll be sad to see them go and miss all our dinners and movie nights together but luckily they are only a few minutes away. It will be lovely for them to have their own space.
Ben and I have been working on our dining room...or mostly Ben. He is such a hard worker and I think it's going to turn out really great.
Last weekend we went to Ben's annual work party up the canyon and I fell in love with my new favorite treat. They had a chocolatier come up after dinner to do a chocolate presentation and of course pass out samples. These are divine. English Sea Salt Caramel Lollipops.
I actually had lunch with Ben today and we took a special trip to visit the chocolate shop to get me another. It was a gorgeous Fall day and the girls loved playing in the leaves. How perfect my new favorite treat is so close to Ben's work...I'm thinking we may need to have lunch dates more often (even though it is NO Nonsense November and I am counting calories after a horrendous sweet-eating October. But there must be some indulgences.)