Elmo and His Greedy Friends

While i was away this week, Laurin and Melissa conspired to send us to the orgy of capitalism that is 'Elmo and Friends'. Erin's #1 favorite thing in the world is Elmo, so I mostly blame her. When you walk in the front door, they are selling everything from elmo soccer balls to sweatshirts. We managed to make it through that gauntlet tantrum free, mostly under the guise of needing to hurry into the theater to not miss the beginning of the show. Here is everyone pre-show, only Sanna is experiencing emotional issues at this point.

She seemed to have recovered from her drama at this point. Staring at the stage as the show was about to begin.

Big Bird was the first to take the stage. I was trying to figure out if they all had microphones under their costumes or if they just had pre-taped audio. There was one live character who helped to move the show along, so I guess they must have all been miked up. Also, I couldnt make out a single word from any of the songs, which led me to believe that they were all singing under those costumes.

Elmo and Friends decided the 75 minute show needed an intermission. I have a pretty strong belief that the only reason for the intermission was to sell these $10 balloons to every parent in that place who didnt want to deal with a screaming toddler for the rest of the show. We managed to provide sufficient excuses to not buy 2 of these things (or any for that matter). Thankfully Ryan and Melissa didnt cave either. I think we made enough sarcastic comments about the timing and pricing of the balloon sales that none of the parents in earshot dared to buy one for their kids either.

Riley started to get a little restless post-intermission. I decided tickling her was the best plan to calm her down.

Food was the only thing that could get Sanna to sit still. Laurin is restraining her with all her might at this point. She seemed to enjoy kicking the people in front of her at every opportunity.

This was one of the final dance numbers. High marks for synchronization. Big Bird doesnt appear to be giving his all though. I am sure he blames the costume.

If Ive told Laurin once, Ive told her a million time, dont let the kids watch "16 and Pregnant".

Hot Hot Heat

This week brought us the first heat wave of the year. Sanna has taken to sleeping with her whole body under the covers, resulting in her being drenched in sweat when being woken up after 2.5 of napping bliss.

Every morning, the girls wake up with their hearts set on two things: eating and dancing to some version of single ladies. Saturday morning's dance off included high heels, sunglasses, and 'backpacks'.

Bringing the cute. Two minutes later she sunk those lovely teeth into her sister's back because she danced improperly during single ladies.

This is how one is supposed to dance during single ladies. Spinning for three minutes straight.

We made our first trek to the frozen yogurt shop with our posse. Riley climbed over anything she could find while Harper watched in amazement.

Riley allowed me to share HER ice cream. She did demand her own spoon though.

This is the cleanest Sanna has ever been after eating something of ice cream's consistency with a spoon.

One the way home, Riley wanted to fly solo in Erin's stroller. Erin and Sanna held hands and and had a funny face-off the whole way home.

Weekly Randomness

Look what a little bribing with M&Ms can do:

More M&M derived sisterly love on a 53 degree February day.

Riley loves to "help" me play soccer.

Frankie and Sanna, normally adversaries, now lovers.

Toy Story derived sisterly love and bonding. Who knew that Woody and Buzz could allow the girls to sit in such close proximity without hitting, kicking, or biting each other?

One of Sanna's crazy singing/roaring performances. She really gets into it!

Riley studying the intricacies of Toy Story. What will happen next? She has to pay close attention because she has only seen it a million times. Even Frankie is captivated.

Ryan's favorite photograph to date. He now thinks that he is the Ansel Adams of watch photography. It does kinda look like an ad from a magazine. Note: Ryan insisted that this picture go in the blog post, so don't blame its randomness on me. :)

'Reading' Rainbow

Our girls have apparently learned how to read. As long as what they are reading is either a single letter or someone's name that they know, they are good. Grandma Nancy sent them a box full of Valentine's Day cards that they read one-by-one at a 100% success rate. Apparently, this is impressive. It occupies them for quite a while, so its a success in my book. Next up, The Iliad. As you can hear, Riley didnt like not being the center of attenting for the three minutes it took to shoot this video. I can tell Laurin was trying to shush her with no success.

Socceroos

I took the day off today so that I could accompany the girls to their second session of 'lil kickers', a soccer-focused 'learning' session for kids 2.5-3.5. Apparently a lot of your speed/motivation must develop over the 12 months following the 2.5 year mark because our girls left a lot to be desired in that area. when they choose to put in an effort, they are strong technically, which is promising. Riley wanted to be the star of the show when it was question and answer time. Sanna only melted down once. Im not sure how Laurin pulled this off last week without me there. Sanna was constantly sneaking out the door to the field, running towards the door/bathrooms. Riley asked to go potty twice during the hour we were there (once for Sanna). All in all it was quite fun for the girls and myself. This is our replacement for gymnastics after they changed the day/time on us.

Ice, Ice, Baby!!

Turn up the volume so you can catch all of the commentary from the girls. These are our first experiments working with the iphone camera and uploading through youtube. enjoy.

Icepocalypse 2011

Well, the "storm of the century" is finally over, and we are still trying to hammer, yes hammer, not dig, ourselves out. Instead of shoveling snow like most of the midwest, we are using garden hoes, shovels, and ice scrapers to try to breakup the nearly 3 inches of ice that is covering our walkways, sidewalks, and cars. Salt is no match for this stuff. Ryan can barely move today from trying to clear a pathway to the house. We didn't even try to walk when leaving the house yesterday, we went straight to our bottoms to slide right out the front door. These pictures don't really do it justice, but here is a little taste of what we are dealing with.

We had one major mishap yesterday when Ryan tried to carry Riley down the back steps while holding the railing. He took one step, lost his footing, flew upward, and landed hard on the steps on his back trying to protect Riley. Unfortunately, Riley's face was sticking out and hit the edge of the steps hard. It is a miracle that Ryan can still walk and that Riley didn't get a concussion. Riley was proud of her battle wounds which, luckily, were VERY minor. Stay safe everyone!

The Big Event

By now, I am sure everyone has seen all the great pictures from Katie's wedding (thank you Facebook). It was quite a weekend full of fun and excitement. As people know, I can get a little stressed out when it comes to my children. So, being responsible for delivering the cuteness that is our twin devils aged me a few years. Just as Laurin said of Katie in her speech, our girls are a little 'unpredictable'. During the rehearsal, the girls were in great spirits and executed their flower girl duties as well as the greatest optimist could have expected. They ran down the aisle throwing flowers and laughing all the way. That added to my normal level of optimism. Cut to the next day. More people and more time waiting before the big event equalled rambunctious toddlers. Toy Story can only pacify them for so long. I went a little too early to the suckers. Sanna worked on hers, drooling onto her pretty dress. I found paper towels in the bathroom that I tucked into the neckline of their dresses. I later had to take away the suckers, which was a source of irritation for Sanna and Riley. I should also mention that the girls had on very cute shoes that seemed to be magnetically repelled from their feet. As we got close to 'go time' Sanna began to run around and play 'hide and seek' under a card table pushed up against a railing. The slats in the railing were spaced more that sufficiently to allow her to plummet to her death at any moment. Trying to remove her from under the table resulted in a screaming fit my delicate ears couldnt handle in a public place surrounded by people who dont necessarily understand the struggle that is getting twin toddlers to do something other than what they want. So, the big moment was upon us and Sanna was under the table. I snatched her out from underneath the table and made promises I hope she forgets when she is older (I forget, but I may owe her every toy she ever asked for, a car, and a pony). One of her shoes was lost in this process, but I had to leave it behind in a split second executive decision. Riley ran over to the doorway before Sanna, and I wasnt able to stop her from making her way towards Grammy at the front of the church. Luckily it was the appropriate time, and I was able to get shoeless Sanna on her way just a second behind her sister. They took off down the aisle attempting to break the toddler record in the 40 yard dash. Flowers were flying everywhere, which I guess meant they were doing their job. They stopped about halfway down the aisle, at which point I decided I needed to step in and get them the rest of the way. Another shoe was lost, which I luckily managed to grab so Katie wouldnt trip on it as she walked down the aisle. We made our way to Grammy and Aunt Jenna and the job was done. I think it was a success, although it was such a blur of anxiety I cant recall how well it went over. Grammy rewarded the girls with Lotso and Buzz Lightyear dolls. We werent able to escape out the back of the church until after the first reading, allowing Riley enough time to tell everyone in the church about her new Buzz Lightyear doll. After making it out the back of the church, I was finally able to relax. That was until the wedding was over and our shoeless Sanna decided to melt down, forcing Laurin to bring her back to the hotel and almost miss the family pictures. Once we got to the reception, the girls were actually great. The girls did want to run around an explore the union. Riley danced her face off with anyone that would join her and Sanna watched Toy Story 3 about 4 times. They made it to 1030 (Sanna fell asleep on the dance floor and actually asked to go to bed). My favorite part (besides dancing with Riley) was when she walked in front of her mom while she was giving a speech holding a parasol and wearing a funny hat (from the photo booth). She started talking to her mother at which point I had to bring out the iPad and put them in the corner. All in all, it was a great time and we have plenty of great pictures to remember it.