HELP!(ers)

I love our 2 little helpers. I'm all for letting them help out in most tasks or chores around the house. It sometimes, OK, almost always, makes my job 100 times more difficult, but it is always worth it. Life lessons are being taught here people! And more often than not, I can be very patient.

Yesterday we made our first batch of Christmas cookies. I can honestly say my cookies have never been decorated like these ones before. We had a ball. (And I reminded myself of that fact about million times as I cleaned up the gigantic mess!)

Santa + Fire Trucks

This week our city had several open houses at local fire stations. With Santa too. Ummmmm...could this event be more perfect for our family??? Oh, we sure talk a lot about Santa around here. We've even had the opportunity to see him a few times. (Though there were some tears involved.) We are quite fascinated with that jolly dude though so we keep on trying.

But FIRE TRUCKS, did someone say FIRE TRUCKS? We're there.

Those firemen were super-nice. The kids got to 'drive' the big trucks and crawl all around inside of them. Those friendly firemen didn't even care about the candy-cane sticky fingers. So much fun. Such good memories.

Now I am trying to convince Brian to be a fireman. (Maybe I should chat with Santa.) Because HELLO the uniforms. Too much information. Nah, we're all friends here right?!?!

Traditions

Christmas traditions are the bomb dot com. Brian and I are having a lot of fun creating Swisher family traditions. Of course we made the paper-chain countdown. Do the kids know what the heck they are counting the days for??? Probably not. But they do enjoy ripping a link off every night.


One fun thing we are trying this year is a Book-Advent thingy. (Feel free to quote me on that one.) I got the idea from another blog and loved it. You see, as a former Kindergarten teacher, I have tons of books just waiting to be read by these 2. (Organized by themes, holidays and seasons of course.) Anyway, I used 22 books I already had and added a couple of new ones to the mix. I wrapped them all and put them on display. Each night the twins choose one and we read it together before bed. They love this!



I plan on using the same books from year to year, but the surprise will be which one they get every night.


I heart books.

A Year Ago

Man, oh, man does time fly when a.) you're having fun, b.) you're a parent, c.) you have TWINS or D.) all of the above. Here is a little video from 1 year ago. It's nothing special. It just shows how much these guys have grown in the past 12. (Months, that is.)

Oh and by the way, you might wanna turn your volume down a bit. My usual 'shrill' voice, (according to my own mother), is extra-annoying in this video.

Enjoy!

O Christmas Tree

While we were in Cali, we went to the foothills and chopped down a tree for my parents. So when we returned home, I was satisfied that our regular tree-cutting-down tradition had been met.

So we went a simpler route this year.
Bring it Ace Hardware!


This certainly helped make the decision.


The selection committee.



The ride home.

Cali Thanksgiving

We had a blast in California for the Thanksgiving week. The much-hyped airport security drama was pretty much non-existent. The twins are super-travelers. We decided to skip bringing the stroller this time. One less (huge) item we only use in the airport anyways. And then we had a 3 HOUR DELAY. Not awesome. We are happy to report though that these kids maintained their title of 'Best Toddler Travelers' ever. Did you know Seatac had a play area??? Oh yes, we do now!

Family, food, memories and complete disconnection from technology for me all week. That's right folks...no cell phone, texting, Internet, blogging, facebook, twitter or anything. It was pretty cool actually. You should try it!

Most days I think being far away from family is the worst. But after amazing times like the last week, I'm thankful for all of the experiences we get to have because we do live in different places. And that's called half-full people.

Here is a pic from the most amazing California State Train Museum.


Oh yeah, when we came home...this was waiting for us in our backyard. Fantastic!

Enjoy!

Wonder what it is like to be a mama of twins???



(Thanks Christy!)

I'm Most Thankful For...

*My rockstar, super-manly and extra-funny husband. I'm mad for this dude. We sure can make each other crazy, but he is without a doubt my most favorite person. I thought there was no way I could possibly love him anymore than the day we got married. Boy, did I underestimate that.

*My children. I cannot even begin to describe how much I love these turds without getting emotional. Let me just say that becoming their mother changed me. Lila and Lincoln are our most-precious miracles. We would have several more children if we knew they would be just as fantastic as these little people. Maybe we will anyway...

*Our families are simply the best. Again, now that I have my own children I can't really describe my love for my family without getting emotional. Dammit! (Sorry mom.) When you have your own turds, you suddenly get slapped over the head and 'get it'. You {finally} understand how much your parents love you, how hard it is to be a parent, all of the sacrifices made along the way, their love that created you {ewwww and cool at the same time}, how excited they were when you took your first steps and uttered your first words...everything!

*Our new house. Probably one of the best decisions we've made to move out to the Harbor.

*Amazing friends.

*Healthy bodies.

*Our sweet little Jezebelle. The most terrible dog in the world. What joy {and frustration} she has brought to our life. Even though she tries to run away everytime the door is open, we know she loves us back.

Tis' the season of thankfulness. We are headed to Cali to spend time with the fam. I will be unplugging for the entire week. No blogging, no facebook or twitter and no cell phone. Just good old-fashioned family fun. And I couldn't be more thrilled.

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Trash Truck

You know what is cooler than Santa Claus??? The trash truck! At least in our little family right now. We look for trash trucks everywhere we go. Our trash guy comes so freaking early here that most often we miss it. But this week, this week was OUR week. He must have been running late...like 7:05 in the AM late. (Ridiculous right?!) And first we heard him coming, and then we saw him pick up our trash, and then all of the angels in heaven sang. It was a good morning in Casa Swish that's for sure.

ALSO!!! At on our weekly library visit I found a DVD about trash trucks. I could've said we were having ice cream for dinner and I don't think the turds would have been more excited. We have watched it numerous times this week and it is pretty silent in our house as they learn about how the trucks are made, what they do, how to recycle and all about landfills. Simply awesome!

Waiting...


Hallelujah!

Fall Rules!

Because I Can

And because it makes them smile.



***It isn't as pretty getting out as it is getting in.***

Lila's Turn

Yah, so Lila locked me out of the house yesterday while I was loading Lincoln in the car. It was not cool. I have since been to the hardware store and have made all kinds of spare keys so this does NOT happen again. {Thank God!}

Toddler fingers find so much trouble. :)

And this...

...is why we do activities like our local library story time every day.

For Real

This is a busy, busy household. Here are just a few things that have happened in Casa Swish in the last week or so. For real.

-A pair of my heels were somehow put in the washing machine. And washed. Through a full cycle. (Not quite sure which turd was responsible for that one.) I did hear some unusual banging, but every time I thought to go investigate, I was distracted.

-Lincoln locked me out of the house. FOR REAL! Click HERE if you want to check out another time this little dude locked me out.

-Our little Pearl will randomly call Brian...BRIAN. Like 'Thank you, Brian' and 'Please, Brian' or 'Wow, Brian'. Hy.ster.i.cal.

-Every single time Lincoln gets in the car he cries and cries because he can't actually drive the car. Back-arching, screaming and just plain mad. For real!

-Lincoln took a chunk out of my face a couple of weeks ago. And then for the next 10 days as it it healed, (I'm telling you it was a CHUNK!), Lila told me every single time she looked at me, 'Mommy owie'. Made me feel so pretty.

-We've discovered that coloring on walls is so much more fun than coloring on paper. Five times this week. FIVE TIMES!

Things I'm Thankful for Part 1

November is the month of gratitude. When people are thankful, people are happy. My kids are sleeping (THANKFUL), so I am typing fast. Please forgive me for my lack of puncuation, bad grammar and use of bullet points. Here are somethings I am thankful for today.

*that my children have NOT figured out how to crawl out the crib

*Yo Gabba Gabba

*Qdoba

*My body. {And not like ooh la-la my body is sooooo amazing.} More like wow, my body can carry two kicking + screaming toddlers around. (At the same time.) My body can spread 20 yards of bark and push a double stroller up many steep hills. My body can do cartwheels that make my kids laugh for days and throw a football with my husband that makes him smile. My body is healthy and able and for that I am so very, very thankful.

*The internet. Recipes, shopping, information and friends are always there.

*my morning coffee that is prepared for me by the hottest barista ever

*girlfriends. Always important, and never been more important all at the same time.

*Parks + libraries. These places are free people! If you're not using them, you must!

*Southwest Airlines and their amazing frequent flyer programs

*Skype

*Canadian relatives

*Books that help me relax at night.

The Hat

My man wants to wear 'my hat' all the time. So we let him. You know, while he plays + when he helps, occasionally in the tub, once during nap time, when he rides his bike, whenever we are in the yard and most certainly when he's eating.

...at least he's being safe?!

What a tool! [Convinced we should've named him Brian JR.]

All Kinds of Adorable

THIS was only one year ago.

(Amazing + so hard to believe.)

And THIS...



...was yesterday!

We had so much fun. The kids loved wearing their Halloween costumes. (We've been wearing them most of today in fact!) We went trick-or-treating at one of the local shopping centers and it was hysterical. I've decided Halloween is definitely all kinds of awesome and I am looking forward to many more in the future!

Paparazzi

Don't these just look like paparazzi shots??? I snapped them today when we went grocery shopping. My kids, who are always so adorable to me, just seemed to be especially precious today. I couldn't but snap a few photos. They just are totally best buds. Which makes me very, very happy.

And So It Begins...

Today after lunch the kids were playing outside on the deck while I was eating and cleaning up the kitchen. Nice day, open doors, children happy...bliss. And then it happened. My son, our 20 month old little dude, marches in the kitchen saying, 'Yook mama, fider!'

Translation: 'Look mama, spider!'

SPIDER! Yup. A gigantic, half-alive + half-smooshed spider in between my little man's fingers. Pure awesomeness.

Did I mention it was gigantic?

Boobies + Dancing

It's like his daddy says, he comes from a long line of boob-men. He can't help but notice. Check out the sweet moves by the way.

Bedtime Prayers

Lately my bedtime prayers have sounded a little something like this...

Dear God,

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you. Infiniti.

Amen

The Patch

We did our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend. We had our boots on, we rode the ponies and drank the fresh apple cider. Good times!





.

Apple-Picking Time

I love fall. I don't love that it started in August here this year, but now that it is October, I love it. Our new house has 4 apple trees and they gave us tons of apples this year. This week we picked the apples and made applesauce. The twins helped every step of the way. And they have said 'applesauce' about a gazillion times. Does anything smell better than making fresh applesauce???






By the way, our Pearl did enjoy the applesauce, but not nearly as much as eating the apple whole like a big girl. Whole apples are her new favorite snack. Check out the work she does on them...

Checking In

We're baaackkk! We had an amazing 2 weeks in California. A. Maze. Ing. San Diego was what San Diego always is....perfect. It is definitely one of our favorite cities, so you can imagine how excited we were to introduce our little loves to a place we adore so much.

And then we got to hang out in Folsom with the fam. My sis and Lucca came over and we had a blast. These 3 totally-toddlers get along so well. Amazingly well. I could hear Coco wake up in the morning and start asking for Lila right away. A-dorable. We took our kids to Apple Hill, which is a can't-miss Sacramento fall tradition. It was what I hoped it would be...fabulous. It is definitely fulfulling creating new memories with my children, at the places in my hometown where my own childhood memories were made.

So now that we are back-- I'll be back to blah, blah, blogging regularly.








Where did all these kids come from???