I'm Buying Stock in Baking Soda

The drama began at 9:30 last night, when the dogs cornered a small skunk in a corner of our backyard.


Belle lost....and I raced to Wal-mart after googling how to get skunk spray out of dog fur. We made the recommended mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. I think it helped...


I'm currently have scent disorientation. I know our house smells a bit like skunk, but I can't quite tell how bad...afraid my nostrils may have been burned by the odor! Agh! For awhile this morning, I thought it was smelling pretty bad, but then realized Addie had a dirty diaper. Now I'm thinking it smells bad again, but perhaps I just need to go & shower? : )

Mother Knows Best

Jasmine here -
So as you can see from the picture, I had an interesting weekend. It all started out normal. Addie and I got some good screaming and jumping accomplished in our cribs in the early am, shortly followed by fresh diapers, and breakfast.

The next part of our Saturday morning routine is to sit out on the front porch, have a swing, and practice our climbing on the steps. I love sitting on the steps and pretending I look like mom and dad. However, there is a key difference between me and them - I've got LOTS more energy. So...I can't just sit, instead I bounce up and down all the while defying gravity and leaning dangerously forward!

Mom told Dad that it didn't look good, and that soon my large head would plummet me forward and onto the cement, but Dad said, "She's fine." Thanks for the vote of confidence Dad - you're always so much fun! Unfortunately, Mom was right - I plummeted and then screamed and even bled a little bit, but mostly just got good and scraped up. I think Dad felt bad, because he brought me ice in a towel and Motrin and my sippy cup...

Now, I'm just sitting back and soaking up the pity! Plus - sometime I think people take me for the sweet, innocent one...so at least my wounds give me some street credit! Won't want everyone thinking Addie was the only one with a wild streak!

Keepin Busy on a Saturday

We got this car as a hand-me-down from friends who also have twins. However, we've been unable to use it, because the girls all out brawl when I bring it out. I finally found another one at a thrift store, and the girls had a blast. It is funny to see their instant attractions to toys that aren't "baby toys".


We had an hour before nap on Saturday morning, and nothing to do. So...why not play with those free stickers that came in the mail?! It was a good 30 minutes of fun and break from whining and fighting for mom & dad. It was hilarious to see the girls oblivious to the stickers on their faces, but desperate to peel the stickers off the other's face.


Just some more rowdy play pictures! Addie is becoming such a showboater!


Jasmine want to let you know that she'll be writing soon and her entry will be entitled, "Mother Knows Best!"

Fun in the Sun

Here are some pictures from my prayer group a few weeks ago. My friend set up a little inflatable water park for the kids. Jasmine was very skeptical - Addie went stomping right into the middle, but quickly bored and decided trying to climb the deck stairs was more her style. You can see her making a quick getaway for the stairs in the middle picture!

The Pictures are In!!!

Here's a sampling of the pictures we got taken by Amy Pennington last month. I'm definitely getting one of the ones with the lollipops! If you want to see the rest of our photos click on this link and type Green1 as the password. Now we just have to chose our favorites...aghhh! : )

Happy Wednesday!

We started the day out with a little cleaning! Addie loves showing off her word comprehension skills, and I love figuring out just how much she understands. I asked her to wipe up the water she spilled from the dogs bowl, and she actually did! She fetched a ball and put it in a pitcher after I just asked her to - but didn't show her. She completely amazed me the other day when she took a lid from a container I was using and left the room. She came back without it - and I asked her, "Addie, where's my lid - I need my lid?" She left the room, returned with the lid, and put it on my container!


I usually insist on all toys being put down before the girls eat/drink in their chairs. However, Jasmine was being particularly difficult and so I thought I'd just let her figure out she couldn't hold onto two toys and drink her bottle...I was wrong and she was very impressed with her skills...can't you tell!


We went to visit our favorite realtors, Libba & Joan, today. They haven't seen the girls since they were tiny - but are avid fans of the blog. The girls loved hanging out in their office - I'm guessing largely due to the fact that Libba brings her cute dog, Sophie. She was the perfect size for the girls to play with - and Sophie was SUPER excited about their company. The girls even requested to go in Sophie's pack n' play so they could play with her toys...very cute!

Miss Sophie!

Cheap Thrills

Who needs toys when you can walk around with a laundry bag on your head!? Addie thought she was sooo clever that she could walk around while inside this black mesh bag. The only part she didn't like was Jasmine following her around and yanking on her! : ) I eventually had to take it off her to prevent a tussle!

And Then There Were Three~!

On Monday, I got a taste of what it would have been like to have had triplets! I watched my friend's little boy, Quinn, in the afternoon for four hours. Thankfully for me, some of our time together occurred during naptime! : ) Since I only have two highchairs, I had to make a makeshift one for Addie. She was a trooper - and thought her set-up was super cool!

Skunk Cabbage and Other Stinky Things

We are now the proud owners of a leather couch and loveseat - compliments of craigslist! I'd been drooling over a Natuzzi couch at a local furniture store, but couldn't fork over the $1,700 just for the couch alone! I regularly check craigslist for a deal, but nothing seemed like a fit for us until these came along.

Ah, but there is a difference buying furniture used...there can be problems! : ) Ours came from a "non-smoking house", but apparently she smoked in the garage...which is where the couches sat awaiting a buyer for the last few weeks. I thought that since they were so briefly exposed that the odor would just go away...hahaha...ahem...NO! One of my friends told me recently that the smell reminded her of skunk cabbage...not so yummy...but oh so true! So after some research on Google, we decided to dump baking soda all over the sofas and leave it overnight. Below Exhibits A & B!



And surprisingly it did reduce the intensity of the odor. We vacuum off the powder and then wiped it down with some leather furniture wipes...getting better still. Now the sofas don't make the room smell, but if you bury your face in them you can still smell it...still hoping it lessens with time!

One of the cushions on the loveseat has a wear spot - where the leather is semi-sticky/waxy - whereas the rest of the couch is smooth and shiny. The previous owners say nothing was spilled on it, just from wear and tear. Anyone have any tips for dealing with a wear spot?


Alex wore a ball cap when he went golfing today - afterwards the girls insisted on both have a hat. Addie loved to pull it down over her face and then try to walk blind...silly girl~!

Big Girls Make Big Messes

The girls are insisting on being big girl! Sometimes they'll refuse to eat any of their food unless we give them a fork or spoon. Apparently, last night Alex completely embraced the self-feeding thing and gave the girls each their own plate and spoon. They got to try their hands at yogurt, cottage cheese, and applesauce. You can see the results from the pictures! We had a similar experience this morning with their oatmeal. Gotta learn sometime right?!

The girls are cracking up us and driving us to new levels of crazy all at the same time! They are perfecting sibling rivalry and have learned how to push, pinch, and otherwise maul each other. They do not like being held at the same time or sharing one person's lap. This makes reading them a story quite a challenge since one is constantly trying to shove the other off mom's lap and when not doing that they are fighting over who gets to turn the pages!

They've both taken to having a book to read in the car. It is so cute to look back and see them both paging through their book "pretending to read" and looking at the pictures! They also LOVE to give the dogs their biscuits (which we do whenever we leave the house to reward the dogs for going in their kennels). I so thought that the girls would try and eat the biscuits, but they go right to the dogs and hold them out!

Addie loves to copy everything I do. Just this morning I was wiping off a spot on our new (craigslist new that is) furniture, and she was getting mad that I won't give her the dishtowel. I finally gave it to her, and she smiled and started wiping - apparently that was all she wanted!

The cutest moment was when I put dresses on them last weekend and Alex and I made a big deal out of how pretty they looked. They both got big smiles and swished around in their dresses laughing! Love it!

Birthdays and Ice Cream!

Last Saturday was Alex and I's birthday (yes the same day!) and we celebrated by returning to our pre-children days! We lined up babysitting for the entire day and just meandered around town without a care - it was WONDERFUL! Thanks Magnuses, Bakers, and Metskers! My very brave friend Janel offered to take the evening shift. She brought her son, Jonathon, along and said she was pretending like she had triplets! She even bathed all three! Most impressive!


I know I've posted several other pictures like this, but I just seeing how excited the girls get when Alex gives them his undivided attention!



The results of a training session in learning to lick a fudge bar! : )


Adventures in self-feeding. The girls had spoons (which I'm guessing are on the floor). They do not want us to spoon feed them anymore - they always insist on doing it themselves - and it is MESSY!


A little watermelon sorbet anyone?


Who needs lipstick when all you need to do is eat a little watermelon sorbet?