Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals: holding hands

I know, if you read this enough, you are probably sick of me telling you how much I love these kids, but seriously, they are awesome. I love this age! Not every second of every day, but they are amazing!!!

Just today, I heard them tell each other they loved each other, both of them asked each other for kisses at random times of the day, they constantly tell us they love us…and no, not only when they want to wrap us around their fingers even more! Here are a few of my favorite loving moments shots of the boys, including Valentine’s Day photos, which was ridiculously special this year with how the boys can understand the holiday and the sentiments, and also communicate with us.

Spidey and Batman kissing…yes, it is February

And no, not every picture is great, sometimes they are over my incessant picture taking…case in point, here, neither of them would look at me! I still love their little smirks and looks, though!

Unfortunately, right after Valentine’s Day, Augustus started with a bad cough that was just impacting his sleep too much, so I took him to the doctor only to find out he has an ear infection. Only his second one in almost three years, so I cannot complain. I know I had an ear surgery by that point and was on amoxicillin more times than my parents could count. Last night was rough for sleep again, but hopefully he will make the turn quickly. We have a birthday party on Saturday that we would love to go to. The shirts in the picture of the boys with the amazing roses Matthew sent me are hand made by the boys. They should be a heart, but I put their hands the wrong way. They look more heart like if you use the palm s for the top of the heart and connect their fingers downward for the point of the heart, but heck, this way we can see their handprints better. We made them at a play date for our moms’ group and had a great play date with all the kids just getting along brilliantly. If this is what 3 is going to be like, bring it on!!!

In case you missed this video, it is one of my fave’s ever!!! Just click on the hyperlink below.

Riding Bikes

In other updates, we have been to the zoo with our besties, and other friends who shall remain nameless, but are so crushing on tour “older” boys. We hit up our neighborhood school’s local ho down for their fundraiser, and the boys had a blast. They were most fond of the fishing game and not the bounce house which surprised us. I just finished ordering the boys birthday invitations yesterday. This will be our first real hard copy invites as the last few years we had big parties and used evites, but I am so happy with the invitations…I cannot wait to get them and send them out. If anyone needs a code for Tiny Prints I have two – TPFriend will give you 10% off any order, and WELCOME for 15% off orders of $49 (free shipping right now for orders over $45, too).

Gus looking for a “needle” in the hay stack with his pants on the grounds

This one is for Mr. Jim and Ms. Kim…look out, Gus has his eye on Miss J. He literally held her hand for 15 minutes straight! all over Busch Gardens!

The biggest news may be that we decided upon a preschool for the boys and they were just formally accepted. They are only going to start part-time, to ease us all in, and heck, they are only just going to be three. They had a trial day, or really an evaluation by the school on the boys, and let’s just say they passed with flying colors. The director wanted the boys to start immediately, even though their program does not start until 3 years of age. We are holding off until fall though to give them some time to enjoy being free to do all the fun stuff we are doing all the time, and prepare us parents little more. It is a Montessori school, so if anyone has any experiences with them, feel free to leave me a comment!

Here is a shot of the boys before they went to school. They were excited to say the least! When we got back that is all they talked about and are so sad that they have to wait. The funny thing is that their uniform colors will be green and red too! We know it will be Raleigh in Red and Gus in green, just like always!

Funny things out of their mouths lately include -

Today, while holding his stethoscope, Gus asked where his heart was, and I pointed to his chest. He said “under here” while lifting his shirt and I said, “yes, underneath your skin.” He then looked at me confused and proceeded to put his fingers…all of them into my mouth. When I asked what he was doing, he said matter of factly, “getting to your heart.”

Raleigh saw my new pink bra hanging on the door and said “I love your pink boobies.” Hopefully soon he will figure out that a bra is not really boobies…a few weeks earlier they were in a department store, and in the little girls section when they spotted the training bras they both started yelling “little boobies!”

Gus now says “maybe no” anytime he does not want to do something. “Gus, do you want to go potty?” or “Time to get out of the shower.” Is met with the sweetest, “Maybe no.”

Developmentally, they are both singing their ABC’s finally! Memorization is not their strongest suit right now, so that is huge for them. It is adorable to hear them sing it together, they usually pause and let one sing some of it, then pause again and let the other one sing for a while. They are both singing more songs in general too. Raleigh keeps asking “what is it” when he sees something he does not understand. We are trying to work on more descriptors, because “it” can be hard to determine. They are still obsessed with their penises, not touching, or any more than most 2 year olds touch them I suppose, but talking about them…I hope they stop before school. I don’t want a write up about how they told some kid how their penis is really big. Oy!

Well, the boys have been thoroughly loving their time with the Grandies from Oz. They flew in on Thursday and the boys were super excited to welcome them. Here are a few shots of the big night!

First, the boys practiced with their signs for the Grandies.

A twin mom who was welcoming her boys home was gracious enough to take our picture after we greeted them with the sign.

Check out these smiles looking at Nannie and Poppy!

The boys have been very helpful, as usual, with putting together a new outdoor table, and today they helped put together a new toy storage unit for the garage. They were dying to help Poppy and Daddy with the laundry revamp, but there was just too much to get into. We’ll post an update of the finished product soon. We are looking forward to exploring Orlando with the grandies, as well. For today, we are taking it easy, before we hit the beach tomorrow!!! Fun times for all.