Bud

Lincoln,

Once upon a time, when I was growing up, all I ever wanted was boys. I'm not quite sure why, I just loved little dudes.

And then God gave us you!

And you did not disappoint because you are one rad dude.

When you were born, you were all kinds of precious.

After babies are born, they lose a bit of weight, and since you were only 5 1/2 lbs to begin with...you looked like a little old man.

Daddy called you Benjamin Buttons.

And I would say, 'Lila, you are so beautiful and Lincoln, your mama loves you!'

You were so alert. I'm talking about from even moments after you were born. You were listening to my voice. I told the nurses they could do the hearing test on sis, but I was certain your ears worked just fine. Somehow your big, beautiful eyes gave me the reassurance I needed when I became your mother. Instead of me freaking the freak about becoming the mother of twins, your calmness just made me feel a sense of peace.

Sometimes your remind of what I think daddy would've been like as a boy.

And it makes me love him and you deeper.

Sometimes you get in trouble for being a rascal.

Do you wanna know a secret?

I always hoped my boy would be a bit of rascal.

It's part of what makes you so much fun.

You'll continue to get in trouble for it, and I'll continue to secretly love that about you.

You are strong, bright, curious, determined, kind, respectful, honest, hard-working, imaginative, funny, tricky and wise.

You are the very best parts of daddy + I....but you are more even than that.

You are you.

Lincoln Scott.

Our boy.

I'm gonna spend the next 24 hours thanking my lucky stars that I get to be your mama.

What Can Make Me Feel This Way...

...MY GIRL!

Lila Pearl.

Today is the last day you are TWO.

Shite.

Did you know I would give every penny I had for you to stay this age? Did you also know that I don't have a lot of pennies because I don't technically have a paying gig, but nonetheless, that I would give every penny daddy makes?

Did you know that daddy and I would have 10 more girls if we were certain they would all turn out as great as you?

But I can't because:

a.) it doesn't work that way,

and

b.) your daddy won't let me.

He tells me it's going to be fun to watch your grow up. But I sure am going to miss these days.

It's kinda weird that the chick I want to be when I grow up is the girl you already are at 2 years old.

Sis, you are hi-larious, trusting, creative, outgoing, self-confident, beautiful, caring, spunky, smart, curious, and completely unaffected by others opinions. I pray, no I seriously pray all the time, that these are the qualities that you will retain throughout all the turbulent times that life brings.

Because you are the coolest chick ever.

We are buddies.

You remind dad + Linc all the time that 'We are the girlz!'

And we sit on the 'girls side' of the car.

I'm gonna spend the next 24 hours reflecting on how awesome our lives became when we became your parents 3 years ago.

December #6

'Christmas is a time for children, Happy faces all a-glow...'

{There is a song in there somewhere, and I might be willing to sing it for you IF you lend me a microphone.}

Children make Christmas (approximately) A BILLION times more awesome. The awe, the happiness and the wonder.

So much fun!

December Daily #2

I'm actually kinda jealous I didn't have a twin growing up.

Nevermind.

I always had Kelsey and she is the best. (I'm not quite sure we could've been closer even if we were twins.)

But being a twin just looks like so much fun. Especially at Christmas time.

December Daily

December Daily. A photo a day all month long.

Kelsey told me to do it.

She told me + I listened.

Because that's the kinda gal I am.

And lo + behold we almost have the exact same picture today...

...because the Christmas tree is the gigantic elephant in the room in the month of December.

And it causes so much awe and joy in our home.

So it's perfectly fitting for Day #1.

Away in the Manger

On this the eve of a most special month, I would like to report that we only have had 1 Baby Jesus related injury in this house. (So far.)

Thus resulting in only 1 time the mama of this house, ahem, shouted: 'WE DO NOT THROW BABY JESUS!' (So far.)

Thus resulting in one time-out for throwing Baby Jesus at her brother. Ahem, LILA! (So far.)

Thus resulting in one small gash on 'her brother's' nose. (So far.)

Wait!!!, it's not even December yet?

Uh-oh!

Crunch

Thanks to our neighbor, and his ginormous maple tree, Lincoln + Lila have been having a ball for the last couple of weeks. If we are bored, and it's not raining, we walk down to his front yard.

OR if Lila + Lincoln are driving me bonkers, we will also walk down to his house.

We walk in the leaves, crunch them, roll around, bury each other, throw them in the air, kick them, collect the prettiest...you name it, we've done it.

There is a certain part of this ditch where the leaves go all the way up to Lincoln's waist. A gazillion leaves.

Today the sun made an appearance. It was quite lovely. The perfect autumn day.

You wanna know what someone, {ahem}, is going to anonymously leave on this neighbors doorstep...

...a freaking rake!!!

Apple Picking

We have 3 very lovely apple trees in our backyard. And this fall we have about a gazillion apples. We have made applesauce, apple crisp, dried apples, enjoyed them plain, shared with neighbors and we still have about 500. So I had this semi-fabulous idea, if I do say so myself, that I would take about 20 or so, and throw them out front to feed the deers that we see from time to time...

... In no time at all I made a new BFF when a little buck starting visiting our yard at dawn and dusk. The kids loved it! And then a week or so later, my BFF brought a buddy--a big-daddy buck and we just loved checking in on them twice a day.

Cue the bunnies.

Now we have 7 or 8 of the most adorable bunnies rotate in and out of our yard at any given time munching on the apples. So the twins and I pick a bag full of apples every day and feed them to our buddies. And then we watch them. Or the twins play in the yard while the animals munch away and watch us.

Today I wanted Brian to snap a few pics of us doing our favorite fall routine. But the twins just wanted to be dork-fishes. Man, I love them.

For the love, the Swishers will be on a farm in no time.

Mark my words.

Oh, Canada

The Swishers left the country last week. We headed north to Vancouver Island to visit Sierra and Judah. Canada does not disappoint. Friendly people, beautiful country, no guns and did I mention the friendly people?!

But it took us 10 loooonnnng hours to get there. Thank goodness for iPhones.

The ferry ride was very fun, and it broke up the hours in the cars, which was fantastic.

Good thing we have the very best toddler-travelers in the history of forever. (And a rented minivan.) (And Grammie + Pops too!)

It was worth every minute.

Sierra was in a community play, Anne of Green Gables, which also happens to be one of my personal faves.

Lila just lit up when the play started. She loved it. She has worn 2 braids almost every day since. Because she wants to be like Anne. Sierra even inspired me to check out our own community theatre here in Gig Harbor. And re-read the books.

And if Brian is very lucky, watch the movies.

Vancouver Island is breathtaking, and Sierra is the very best tour guide. We will be back. Oh yes, we will be back.

Walk The Plank

Lila + Lincoln were pirates. The most adorable pirates I saw. I'm the mother of this mess so that opinion is completely biased, but nonetheless, they were pretty freaking cute. These pics were from Saturday when we met up with some friends in Puyallup to trick-or-treat their downtown stores. So fun.

The twins certainly understood what was happening this year, say the magic words and receive a treat. But you know what was awesome?! They always said thank you, they shared their treats and they certainly were way more excited to look at all the costumes than they were getting tons of candy.

Having children has certainly made Brian and I more involved in the community. Seeking out fun activities to do and getting involved. It's fun to participate in all the activities that are out there to enjoy. Just another way that having kids has made us much better peeps.

The End.