What is Lily like these days?

Lily with the Lenses is what we introduce her as sometimes to help people remember which twin she is. It really should be Lily, the Lady with the Lenses as she is all things prissy! This photo captures her everyday look. I can't tell you how many times I've washed this little dress. I got it at a consignment shop and it is her favorite! She wears it all day at least once a week. With Lily, the more hair accessories and lip gloss with sparkles, the better.


















Here's another classic Lily photo below. She is dressed as her favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty. Knowing her, she is thinking something like, "Get the job done, but don't let 'em see you sweat."

I really haven't figured out yet whether she is introverted or extroverted, but which ever one it is, she is not an extreme. She likes to stay home a lot, but really enjoys her friends. (Katie likes to stay home, but only asks to play with Lily...she is introverted for sure).

Lily is very expressive both verbally and with her facial expressions. Here are a few of her "go to" poses.

The thumbs up...

The silly face...

The thinking face...

...and the "Aren't I adorable?" face...

She has some stuffed friends that she sleeps with, 2 lambs, 1 bear and her 2 Ba's. Here are the two Ba's. She named them Ba with Two Ears Together and the other is Ba with Two Ears Apart. Ba with Two Ears Together is the favorite and gets the all the snuggles while the other Ba sleeps at the foot of the bed with the other friends. Something about having too much stuffing between your ears, and you're ousted? (I'm not sure if I truly understand her logic behind that one, yet.)

Lily has a gift in language. She talks like a little Momma. She talks all the time. (No wonder Kate is quiet.) She knows all her letters upper case and lower case and can tell you what most words start with and can write all her letters as well. She is starting to read 3-letter words. The girl loves letters and words almost as much as she loves a sparkly princess shoe.

Of course, she loves fairies and ballerinas as well. She wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. She has learned some basic ballet positions from the Little Einsteins and tries to teach them to me. I can't even remember their names (one is arabesque??), but she has them down pat. Here is her fairy book that Ella, Emma and Jonah gave her.

Finally, two more shots of my little beauty...

Easter pictures

I'm working on my post for Lily, but in the meantime...here are our Easter pictures. Lisa and I braved our first egg dyeing experience together. We did it in my tiny kitchen with 5 three year olds. It was actually really fun thanks to my sweet cousin Amelia who was staying with us that week. She spearheaded the dyeing while Lisa, Phil and I rotated the kids through her dyeing station.
















































































Here is Lily enjoying her first chocolate Easter bunny that Sarah bought her.














Phil's parents came for Easter. What a treat!! Grammie and I took the girls out for Easter egg hunts on Saturday. We hit 3 in a row! First, the one at the library...













































Exploring and comparing their treasures...

Next stop... the state park. The girls caught a glimpse of the Easter bunny. Here is Kate on the lookout for him again.

There he is!!

Last stop...the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Lily tied for first in the egg hunting contest. She actually would have won the whole thing if I hadn't taken some of hers out of her basket and put them in Kate's almost empty basket. What a bad mommy! I didn't know it was a contest...I just didn't want to hear the candy fights all day!

This is why Kate doesn't find many eggs...she is more concerned about what is IN the eggs than how many she gets.

Exhausted and ready to go home by the end of the day....

I highly recommend the Resurrection Eggs sold by Familylife. Phil and I were struggling to communicate the Easter story to three year olds who didn't understand yet about death or sin. Everytime I started to explain, my words sounded too heavy for their little hearts. We were saved by the Resurrection Eggs. Phil did a great job of explaining it to them using the Eggs (except for the part he threw in about the Easter bunny working for Jesus - talk about "adding to the Gospel!") Anyway...the kids LOVED the Eggs and Phil's explanation and really got the concept of Easter as much as a three year old can.

What is Katie like these days?

Katie...Yes, she is mostly going by Katie these days. We still call her Kate a lot, but Katie seems to match her cuteness more closely. She has the cutest smile that I've ever seen. Although we are not sure, we think that she is the youngest of the two. She certainly acts like the youngest and wants to be the baby. Lately, she is so clingy and loving towards me. She has not been so outgoing to others in the past, but is starting to come out a bit now and actually say "Hello" to people she knows out in public. At home, she loves the fact that we think she is so polite. She loves to say thank you and please.

These are a few of Kate's favorite things. Actually, Lily came up while I was posting, saw this picture and randomly confirmed, "Mommy, those are Katie's things!" The absolute favorite is the green string. This has and is still being play with for hours at a time. She makes knots, lasso's things and just carries it around. Same with the bungee cord. The stick is actually a broken broom handle that becomes a walking stick and a horse. The safety googles are, of course, for eye protection. The phone is to call Daddy, Mommy, grandparents, Sarah or Hannah. The wrench gets a workout around the house and the bat is for self defense (I guess, I'm not really sure. I really don't notice what she does with the bat unless Lily is crying). The leap pad is for writing her letters, at which she is a pro.

Many of these items are just like security blankets. Here she is watching TV with bongee cord and wrench in hand.

Doggybear (there are two of them) is still her best friend. She sleeps close to them every night.

She has expanded to other puppies. Below is her puppy collection that sleeps with her. They are arranged in order of importance from right to left. Each was named by her (except Doggybear which was my error. I thought it was a dog for 3 months during my initial mommy fog. Then one day I looked at it after getting a good night's sleep and realized it was a bear. She already called him "Doggy," so he became Doggybear.) Anyway, from right to left below is:

Doggybears I and II, Big Puppy, Medium Puppy, Puppy with a Mouth, Puppy without a Mouth and Shake Puppy (he vibrates when you pull his tail).

Katie is a tomboy (the opposite of her sister's princess personality). She never wears a dress except on Sundays when I ask her to (Lily never wears pants, only dresses since she was 18 months old). She likes to wear T-shirts that represent the things she likes...puppies, Chip and Dale (Dale is her hero), Belle, and Mickey Mouse. She doesn't play with dolls, as I'm sure you have gathered from her above list of favorite toys. Below is a picture of her playing with a doll. She is, so gracefully, lassoing Snow White.

Another offer of mine to see if she wanted to play with a doll is below. She is taking her baby for a walk in the stroller. She was sure to bring all the things a little Momma might need in a pinch...a green lasso rope, a wrench, and, of course, safety goggles.

Kate's talents are along the order of logic and engineering. She loves to work on projects, taking them apart or putting them back together. She is also crazy about computers. She can play for at least an hour by herself on the computer working on letter, coloring and number games.

Kate likes to be unique. She doesn't want to be like her sister always. As far as I can tell, she is pretty introverted and enjoys alone time. She is like her sister in that she is very sensitive, sweet and smart. I love trying to figure her out and learning more about her at every stage!

Chinese New Year celebrations

Here we are getting ready for the first Chinese New Year "Vegetable" (festival) as Katie called it.
































...and the FCC Chinese New Year dinner.





























Lily got her nerve up enough to do the dragon dance holding on to her friend, Laura Joy.