Lately

We're alive!  

 You know the thing is, you go to Italy one week, and then your daughter gets her tonsils and adenoids out immediately after you return, and then you know what happens???

Italy all of the sudden feels like a MILLION years ago!  

Because real life done-did slap us across the face when we returned.  

(And then suckered punched us in the belly when we were down.)

A little more than 2 weeks after the surgery, I can (almost) safely say that we have survived.  

But barely.

Because that surgery is no joke.  And it knocked our Pearl out for more than 2 weeks.  

She was miserable.  She was tough.  She was sassy.  She was sad.  And quiet.  And hungry.  

And she couldn't get enough of her mama.  

She just started feeling a bit better in the last 24 hours.  She doesn't sound like our girl yet, and she is certainly far too skinny.  (Insert sad face!)  

But she smiled, played and slept through the night.  

Thank God!

And Brian + I need another vacation like this one.    

Lincoln was so good the last 2 weeks.  We didn't get out of the house hardly at all.  His sister was either too sick or too grouchy to play, his mama was carrying a 35 pound baby on her hip 24 hours a day and his dad was working round the clock.  

So what did our son do?

Play happily by himself, enjoy the extra sweet snacks around the house, patiently help his mama, work in the yard with daddy and grow like a weed.  

Seriously this kid has grown so much lately. (Insert sad face.)

I can honestly say that in all of my 3 years as a mother, these were by far the hardest 2 weeks.  

And I was alone with twins from the beginning people!!!

Motherhood humbled this week, but I must say, I am just ever-so grateful to be a mom.

And to be able to be home with my sick girl, not at 'work'.

And even though I'm all kinds of tiny, without any 'cushion' to be found, I'm the coziest source of comfort for my gal when her world is spinning.  

And that feels like a million bucks. 

Do You?

Do you let your children dress themselves?

I do. 

A lot.  

They both chose green.

Not always of course, there are occasions when I get to choose and/or have the veto-power.  

(Like flip-flops in the rain.)

Lincoln wearing crocs and a tank top.  In the rain.  With jeans.  In February.

But most of the time during the week, they choose.

Looking good.

Here's the thing, when I taught Kindergarten, there was a particular round-faced cutie pie that always came to school a disheveled mess.  

This girl had pony-tails sticking out of her forehead and was mismatched from head to toe.  

But, she couldn't have felt more beautiful.  

Her mother told me she let her choose her own clothes and didn't ever have
problem with what she wore.
I loved it!
She was allowed to express her creativity through her clothes.  

The confidence she felt was evident. 

Certainly much different from the (mostly) girls and (occasional) boys who would choose to sit out of an activity rather than get their shoes and/or clothes dirty.  

Or had the most lovely, on-trend get-ups, but were too uncomfortable to play in them.  

Polka dots and leopard.

Lila + Lincoln tend to choose outfits that they think match.  Green shirt, green underwear and green shorts for instance on my dude.  Or striped shirt and striped skirt for Sis.  

These always leads to rocking outfits let me tell you.  

Or sometimes Lila likes to wear her Christmas dress to Target.  

And Lincoln wears his football pants.  (Carrying a football of course!)  

Sometimes Lila wears her ballerina dresses or Lincoln wears all red like Lightening McQueen.  Lincoln's favorite shirt has a gigantic stain that I cannot get out.  

It doesn't bother him for one second.  

But here is the thing for me.
They could care less what others think about what they are wearing.
They feel special.  

And I'm sure sooner rather than later, they will start making choices based on what they feel others will think.  

We all do.

So until then, our children will be the ones letting their personalities dictate their adorableness.  

And not their threads.

And it's 2 less battles I have to fight each morning.
Win.  Win.

Roma

Rome was amazing.  

It was just so, so amazing.  

Brian + I fell in love with that city.  

It reignited our desire to travel.  It made me want to learn to speak Italian.  

It makes me want to read history book after history book.  It makes me want to drink stronger coffee, much more wine and indulge in loads of gelato.  

Every day.

We had the very best vacation.  

It kinda feels like a dream.

We took a bunch of pictures.  Here are a few.

Taking off child free.  Ahhhhh.

 Our super-hotel under that gorgeous super-moon.

Gelato every single day.

My imagination ran wild seeing this place.  

Yum.  

This place again.  Wow.

It rained one day.  Oh, I am sorry, did I say rain?  Check that--POURED.  And we were in the middle of some ruins with no shelter to be found.  I am completely soaked from the knees down.  And everywhere else as well.  The rest of the time high 70's and gorgeous.

Wine + maps.  Several times a day.

Relaxing.

Throwing my coin in the Trevi fountain.

The Pantheon.  This place...my.

Vatican City was incredible.  So much beauty.

Us.

Us.

 Us + (more) gelato.

Alright that's enough.  

I could be here all night showing you pics of more amazing-ness.  But then I would be THAT person who made you look at every picture of their vacation...Zzzzzzz.

If you ever get the chance, GO TO ROME.

You will not be disappointed.

Our kids watch everything like little hawks. Not too much gets by them. Especially when it comes to any item of food I put into my mouth.

Last night the kids were outside playing with B while I was cleaning up after dinner.

(Cleaning again...surprise!)

Anyways, I popped a piece of dark chocolate into my mouth and went outside to check on the twins. Immediately after I opened the door, Lincoln says,

'Whatcha have in your mouth mama?'.

And I said:

'Broccoli'.

(A little fib...Oopsa-poopsa.)

And then my children, both of them, dropped everything and ran inside to the kitchen screaming they wanted broccoli too.

 And we had just eaten dinner!

 And they were running. NOT walking.  To get BROCCOLI.

You just have to love 3 year olds.

Races

Once in a while being small has it's advantages. 

 Like you know, for tricycle races against your children.

 I totally let him win.

 I didn't even fall off the trike.  (This time anyway.)

And then Sis + I traded vehicles.  And then we raced again and again until the rain took us inside.  

Good times.

Da' Beds

When we decided a couple of months ago that it was the time for the twins to get big beds, Brian told me he wanted to build them.  

Brian has never, ever built a piece of furniture.

But he is a researcher.  And a perfectionist.  And a hard-worker.  

I wasn't worried for a second about him doing a good job.  I was more concerned about the time it would take to finish the project.  Because as most of you people with young families know, there is certainly not a surplus of time in our days.  

But he did it!  

And he did it exceptionally. 

And I am so proud.

 We had to say goodbye to the baby cribs.  (Which I promptly sold on Craigslist.)  

Kinda bittersweet.

But also exciting.  

Because our children are supposed to grow up after all.  

And thrive!

 Brian did such a great job.  And we will bunk these beds when we feel they are ready.  

 The twins did great in their big beds.  They think they are big stuff for sure.

 I sure do think these 2 hang the moon.

And Brian... 

Well that guy continues to amaze me.

Mini Swish

Check out Lincoln's dribbling skills.

This was a couple of weeks ago and he's even better now.

This kid easily dribbles 25-30 bounces each time.

Most people assume Brian is responsible for teaching him his new trick.

But nope, it was me.

Little known fact, I too could have been a basketball superstar if dribbling was the only skill required in the game.

Oh well.