Of late...

It's February...which means we only have 6 more months of winter here in Bozeman. I wish I were joking :). During the winter doldrums, I must remind myself, as I constantly remind my children, to be grateful for what is given...a warm home, yummy food, my family, wonderful friends, etc. I really have no (good) reason to bemoan a long winter.

To keep the boredom/whining/insanity at bay, we have been out-and-about our lovely Bozeman town:

• at the public library...it's bright, clean, free and a change of scenery...and there are books there, too :).
• jumping our little hearts out at the bounce house...$10 always very well spent.
• playing at our friends' houses...different toys, different environment, good company.
• wandering around Costco...the carts are huge and can carry all my children plus a few grocery items, and there are samples, of course!
• taking a walk down our street...we have set a goal to walk all the way to the end by Spring (it's 1/2 mile long). We walk backwards, we hop, we kick, we stomp on ice chunks until they're "dead", we listen to the ice crunching under our boots, we look for our neighbors' American flags, we listen for airplanes overhead. It sounds very rosy, I know. However, the monkeys' favorite thing to do on our little walks is look for dog poop/pee. Boys.

When the weather or circumstances keep us at home, we have been getting creative about our daily activities:

• learning how to use scissors...oh how they love to wield scissors. They each have their own pair of blunt-tipped scissors and ask many times a day if they can "cut". I have been very diligent about keeping the scissors out of their reach unless I am present - so far no cutting of hair, clothing, or anything of value.
  

Mason deconstructing a magazine with his scissors...I call it "recycling" :)

• playing in tubs full of rice/water...got this idea from Addie. I bought 2 plastic tubs, a 20 lb bag of rice from Costco, small toys, rakes, and spray bottles. We rotate between the tubs, taking turns burying the toys in the rice and trying to find them and spraying water into the water. They love this. The mess these activities make is totally worth it.
  

Smithy spraying.

Mason digging.

• PBS has great TV programs for toddlers. We usually start the morning off with Sid the Science Kid and Super Why...and then Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street. It's educational, right? :) (The theme songs from these shows have a sneaky way of getting into your head and NEVER LEAVING).
• all the usuals...legos, puzzles, coloring, building a "garbage truck" out of pillows on my bed, going to "work", pestering one another...you get the picture.

New Things

A number of new things have entered our routine lately.

• Sawyer has started eating solids. I use the term "eat" loosely. He has tried whole-grain rice cereal and bananas.

What a handsome boy!

• Wednesday mornings finds me and my boys at Bible Study Fellowship or BSF. The friends I know that attend this bible study have nothing but good things to say about it and the accompanying children's program. So, we enrolled in January and have attended 4 out of the last 6 weekly meetings. It is a real feat to get us all fed, dressed, and out the door by 8:45am. I am really enjoying the current study of the book of John and am looking forward to the Fall when we will study the book of Isaiah. The boys are warming up to their teacher and their class - their blankies must always accompany them. They call it "play-dough church" to distinguish it from our regular Sunday morning church, where there is no play-dough. BSF has been a very good addition to our schedule.
• Big boy beds! This particular "new thing" has been a very big adjustment at our house.
  

We bought a bunk bed set from some friends for a steal and set them up on Christmas day.

Testing out the new digs.

Mason pretending to sleep in Smiggy's bed.

Mase.

At first they were a bit fearful of the new beds, but they quickly became accustomed to their new-found freedom. There has been much bedtime discipline as the monkeys can't help but get out of their beds, play with their toys, giggle, jump, and generally not sleep. Night by night, Matt and I have fine-tuned their bedtime environment and routine to avoid/lessen the many battles. We have finally reached a bedtime zen that includes removing all toys/tools/stuff that screams "play with me", disabling the light switch using the pull cord on the light/fan combo, and a gentle reminder that it's time to sleep. These things seem obvious now but it's been a long road paved with discipline, tears, more discipline, and more tears (some of them mine) to get here.

Raising twins is not the same as raising two children...it's just not. I was surprised to find that I am still learning this. Just when I think we have a handle on things, we reach a new stage with new challenges (and joys) and we are befuddled once again. I know this is true of all parenting, not just twins, and my dear mother-in-law reminds me it's a process that never stops being challenging - even when the children are adults. So, I will take my own advice and just ride the wave...ride the wave.

My children really are wonderful little people...it's just hard to see this at 2 a.m. when they have woken up, turned their bedroom light on and are playing loudly and require discipline...FOR THE SECOND TIME THAT NIGHT. Ahem. Thankfully, they hadn't learned how to lock the door...YET. Oh the stories I could tell...:)