Gage got me this necklace...
And Matt made this framed portrait of the me with the twins
Then we met my brother and sister and some friends at Vino for lunch and drinks. It was nice to visit with Amy, Phil, Josh, and Lori because we don't spend as much time together as we'd like. I wish I had taken a few pics, but I didn't.
The last few weeks have been a little dramatic which is why I haven't had time to post. Gracie started refusing to sit in her high chair. She had been in a space saver type seat that sits on a regular chair at the table. If I did manage to get her strapped in she would hang over the side or kick her feet against the table. Once she kicked so hard she pushed her chair back and it went to the ground. We started thinking she might be scared to get back in her high chair so we did some sitting on our laps and some picnics in the backyard but that couldn't last forever. So I decided to put my foot down-and that was followed by a nearly three day stand-off where I refused to give her food unless she sat at the table. She won. After almost three days of her not eating anything except a few snacks I gave her in the car (and some random animal crackers she scrounged up from God knows where) I decided I had to give her an alternative to her high chair. So I've borrowed a "kids table". It's only KIND OF working because it's hard to get her to stay seated until she's done eating. I didn't realize how often I was using it to contain her so I could things like feed the twins and do the dishes. She's the most challenging of the kids right now because she's into everything-scaling the pantry shelves to spill cereal boxes, sneaking into the Oreos and peanut butter chips, putting dirty clothes in the dryer along with the clean ones, pulling Gage's books off the shelves, getting into his markers while I'm feeding the twins, pulling out every wipe from the container while I think she's taking a nap and on......and on.....and on.......
I don't have the luxury of keeping an eye on her all the time because while I feed the twins-that's all I can do. The upside is that she's in one of my favorite phases at the same time. It's the one where she's really learning to talk...where someone sneezes and she spontaneously says, "Bless you"......and she says "more cookie please" and "Ash crying" and "Daddy's home" and "I hold you" and she loves pointing out pictures in books. And her voice can be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard.
Look at her face......
She would hardly get out of the stroller at our park visit one morning because the gardeners were there. Every time she hears them outside she runs to my lap crying and begging me to hold her. With our four surrounding neighbors it happens several times a week. Same with the vacuum and blender.
Gage has been having a busy summer so far. He spent a week doing the All Star Sports Camp at Copper River......
then a week of VBS at New Covenant, then camping with Grandma Stacey. He'll do another week of camp at Copper and possibly another week of VBS before he heads down to the farm for another visit. I'll be keeping him pretty busy all summer-he's best when he's busy.
The twins are doing great.....I think they get more precious every day. At their four month appointment Ashlyn was just under 12 pounds, and Jay just under 14 pounds. Ashlyn is more content.....Jay is a little more likely to cry where she's pretty happy most of the time. He just likes to be held and she'd rather be left alone. They both light up when someone smiles at them though, and it's adorable.
Me, I'm still enduring some type of identity crisis. It's as if I want to be someone I'm not. I want to be stylish-but then I remind myself that I don't need new clothes or to be stylish because I never go anywhere......I want to hone my cooking skills and make an amazing dinner-but then I realize it's 6 o'clock and I never took the meat out to defrost.....I want to be fit-but I haven't been to the gym in several weeks......I want to be one of those people that has a clean house-but I just can't seem to make it happen. I have just had to accept the last one.......I had to accept that I have to allow people to come over when my house is a mess. If I didn't-I would never see anyone. Last week Lauren came by and when she left I realized that the whole time I was talking to her one side of my tank top was down and my sports bra was showing. Good thing it was just LK and she understands that my life is a complete mess most of the time.
It's okay, it's a phase and I know it will pass. It's the reason I craft.......it's the one part of my identity that I can be successful at right now. I want to be crafty-and I am.
People always ask where I find the time to sew and craft.......the fact is-I don't find it-I take it from other places. I don't really have the time to craft-I take it from time that I could spend watching television, or should spend cleaning house, or doing my hair, or taking a shower, or getting my kids dressed, ha!
Tomorrow my back neighbor has invited me for a late-night sew.....more crafts to come! And tomorrow starts with a little park play date with friends to celebrate Gracie turning TWO!!
The Gemini in me wants to be all things......I'm reminded of that Keith Urban song.....I just want a little bit of everything. So I can't do everything well......but I can do a little bit of everything.
Love.
