The Caboose

My parents are obviously the locomotive. They are the driving force behind my family.

My eldest sister, Kim, is a passenger car — loves people.

My eldest brother, Tim, is a tank car — sturdy and trustworthy.

My sister, Carrie, is a gondola — because it has a fancy name, and, well, she's kinda fancy.

My brother, Johnny, is a hopper — he used to actually hop on trains. The name fits.

I'm a box car — reliable, gets the job done every time.

And my little sister, Cassie, is most definitely the caboose. In our wild and crazy train — she is the perfect ending.

Am I taking this train analogy a little too far?? I didn't think so either.

But to get to the point ...

Yesterday, my sweet-itty-bitty-little-baby sister, who is really not itty bitty or baby any more, got engaged.

Her fella, Trent, is the most genuine, thoughtful, kind-hearted guy. I couldn't ask for better for her.



She may not be an itty bitty baby anymore, but she is still pretty sweet.

And a bit sassy.

Ok, a lot sassy.

Good luck with that, Trent!

Good DNA

Some people ask me where I get my strength to be a mom of twins.

...



Nuff said.

Love you, Mom!

Rock Stars

Everyone needs a hobby.

Claire has already found hers.



She's a rock picker. (And occasionally, a rock thrower.)

She will sit in the driveway for hours picking rocks. Well, hours in baby time. It translates to about 10 minutes in adult time.

Sometimes, she pulls Grace in. But Grace usually only participates for 3.5 minutes. IN BABY TIME. I'll let you do the math on that one.








This new hobby is especially nice because they love the independence and I get to sit on my front porch, drink my tea and pretend that I'm relaxing.

Win-win.




In other news ... Isn't this picture kinda creepy? Like maybe they are getting ready to eat me? Or knock me over and steal my lunch money?

Emphasis On No. 3

Love it.

Relish it.

Forgive it.

Respect it.

Understand it.

Appreciate it.

Because there is nothing like a sister's love.

Thomas Edison Would Be Proud

Uh. Uh. Uh. UH! UH! UH! UHHHHHHHH!

This, along with Bup, was our girls' chosen means of communication. Whenever they wanted something, they would grunt. Whenever they didn't want something, they would grunt louder. And if you weren't hurrying fast enough, they reached for their whip and screamed their grunts.



Until a couple of weeks ago. It was like a light bulb went on for Claire and she finally understood what we were trying to get her to do.

She can now say the first syllable of almost all the words we ask her to attempt. And if she can't quite make out the sounds, she gives it a good try.

I cannot begin to tell you how awesome this is. The other day, for example, she was pointing to something and saying "Neh, neh, neh." I was a little slow, but as soon as I saw the edge of a necklace hiding behind a lamp, I knew immediately what she wanted. I said "Necklace?" She smiled big and said "Yaaaa."

It was such a profound moment. She told me what she wanted, I understood, and she got what she wanted.

If we were still grunting, I would have been clueless and she would have left crying in a fit of frustration.

Grace is being typical Grace: completely unpredictable. When I first thought about writing this post, I was going to share my opinion that Grace's light bulb — understanding we wanted her to try to say the words — just hadn't lit up yet. But then a few days ago, she was saying "dow," telling the cat to get off the table. So, I've changed my thinking with her. She's caught somewhere between not knowing what we want, not having the development to get the words out and knowing exactly what we want, and flipping us the bird. I have a feeling this will be a trend with this little one.

Mother Nature's Blessing

My big sister got married this weekend. It was an emotional, love-filled, beautiful day.

We had endured 63 straight weeks of oppressive heat and humidity. For most of the summer, the moment you walked out the door, sweat beaded on your forehead and your energy was drained. The weather channel was bordered in red -- warning people to stay indoors.

Then, the week before the wedding, it rained. And rained. And rained. The sky opened up the day before and poured down on us as we rehearsed.

But the day of … it was just gorgeous. Low humidity. A cool breeze. Sparkling sunlight. A full moon.

The most perfect day all summer.

Congrats to Carrie and Nate. May your marriage be full of love and happiness and the strength to endure when it's not.

Blocked

My brain is a muddled, fuddled mess.

Blocked by toddlers, husbands, parents, sisters, brothers, weddings, work, car repairs, headaches, fatigue. Life.

So, I decided to take the week off. Give my brain a rest.

My big sister's wedding is this weekend, so we'll be traveling and staying in a cabin. Disconnected from life. Well, most of it at least.

I'll be back Monday with a recap of the incredibly fun, beautiful wedding of one of my best friends.

Until then.

Contest Winner!!

She's had a taste of the fame before, and just couldn't resist it.

The winner of last week's caption contest is ... Grandma (Or as Claire calls her, "Grraa")!!



Grace: Say UNCLE! Say it! Say UNCLE!
Claire: Bup

Congrats and enjoy all the fame and glory this blog has to offer!

Driving Along in my Automobile

This past weekend we visited my parents.

The girls didn't nap well. They didn't go to bed well. But we had such an incredibly fun time. I'll let the pictures do the talking.





I'm not trying to say it was all rainbows and butterflies. There may or may not have been a carjacking.











What goes around comes around?







All in all, it was a really fantastically fun weekend.