Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pumpkin Patch and First Time for Carving

Well, this year we finally did it. We carved pumpkins. I struggled with this because in Florida, well, pumpkin carving feels a little wrong. Is it just me? It is still so darn hot, and setting out a pumpkin to basically rot just seems wrong. Well, it is, but the boys love them, so why not!?!?! We hit a little pumpkin patch down the street for just the right pumpkin and of course some more posing in front of hay bales and pumpkins. Then we headed to dinner with our friends and neighbors. Our fave Greek/belly dancing spot. Yummy!
We had fun, stopped for more libations on our walk home, the boys tried to milk and feed the plaster cow outside the liquor store, and then we headed to start the carving fun. Raleigh was all about helping scoop out the seeds, or “poop” them out as it sounds from his mouth…but I digress. Gus was not really interested. Our friend, Little C, not so much either, but it was funny to see him get scared as we lit the pumpkins. His Daddy made a scary one! And a Mickey one too that I am going to confess, blew our Daddy’s pumpkins away!

boys, trying to get them to work with me;) (3)

Gus, he went for the different colored pumpkins, and Rals was all about the bumpy ones! I love that they like the “different” ones!

family shot - matt & mini-me (aka Gus) looking sweet!

Of course, Gus had to shake his maracas for us!

Look closely, you’ll see the leaves stuck to the cow’s mouth

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Favorite Fall Crafts – Blog Roll Question of the Week

We have done a lot of crafting lately. The question of the week on the Multiples and More blog is all about crafts, so I decided to take a few minutes to write about ours. Some are more fall-like than others, but all have been fun! Most of them have been with our moms of multiples group; and what could be more fun that crafting with your own multiples? Well, of course, crafting with lots of multiple friends and their mommies!

First, we did a Grandparent’s Day craft. We hosted it in a park where I knew we would have easy clean up and plenty of space to do our masterpieces. I got this idea from this web site http://www.activityvillage.co.uk. I just stumbled upon them looking for crafty ideas for grandparents, because, what grandparent doesn’t want something handmade by their grandkids? We used sponge paint brushes to paint the kids’ hands and then helped the kids make a circle to form a flower, and then later drew in the stem and attached a little poem for each grandparent. The web site had lots of poems to choose from. They have a few autumn art projects I think we’ll try this week, too!
The foam brushes can be picked up at your local hardware store for pennies and clean up for reuse. Much easier for getting on all the nooks and crannies of hands and feet.

For a quick and easy crafty/fun activity, why not take a moment to paint some masks or leaves, pumpkins, or ghosts on your kiddos faces? We had fun doing just that at an “entertaining” play date. Just note, that even if a face paint says it is washable, it does not mean it easily washes off…I finally had to use rubbing alcohol to remove the blue ring around the boys eyes. If anyone out there has a brand they love, or any other removal remedies, I would love to hear about them! We’ll be doing this again when one of the moms in our group hosts a “superhero” play date next month. Great way to have fun, be creative, and reuse some of those Halloween costumes and props before they outgrow them!

View Full Album

More fun, again, not really crafty, but along the same lines, how about a Halloween cookie decorating party? That is what we did with about 20 little ones. We all just met up at one of our houses, brought our own premade uncooked dough, rolling pins, and some even brought our own tables, and then we helped the kids cut, bake, and decorate their very own cookies. Most of us have two year olds. For sanity purposes, I would recommend having the cookies already baked and cut out into Halloween shapes, and then just do the decorating with the littlies, but live and learn, or be like us and have something to laugh about in retrospect!

gus deep concentration while rolling out his cookies

My own art project while still involving the twinkies was to half-fill a vase with acorns and a pumpkin scented candle, and voila, instant fall decor! Smells and looks good! Now, every time we go for a walk, the boys are continually collecting acorns. Maybe we’ll have enough for a second display before Thanksgiving! Of course, it would be helpful if I would remember to check their pockets for acorns before I wash their shorts…we have some really clean acorns in this jar!

We worked on one last art project last week, making cheetah masks, inspired by a craft from our monthly magazine, Wild Animal Baby. Here is a link to the mask template – although, our printer is broken, so I just drew ours freehand. http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Wild-Animal-Baby/Fun/Crafts-and-Activities/Mammals/Leopard-Mask.aspx

Here is what the final product should look like…ours is not yet finished. The boys really liked sponging on the paint, we just have not added the nose/mouth/whiskers…yet! Great tip is to use sponges with a clothespin attached, or rather, pinned to the sponge, so they don’t even have to dip their fingers near the paint. It should cut down on mess, although, I personally think that is half the fun, right?

Afterward, we tried some leaf printing and fall artwork for the fridge using fall-ish colors of red and brown. This one, well, it was messy, very messy! Looks great on our refrigerator.

Have fun, I hope to read about more ideas from other moms, too!

Dynamic Duo-isms

The things these boys say. I know, I know, if you are reading this, you are probably sick of hearing about these things, but seriously, they are hilarious. Frustrating at times, but still hilarious. We’ve been MIA in blog world recently because the terrible twos are just tiresome on most days. Naps and bedtime are just a tad more difficult, although, all in all, I cannot complain. Sometimes I want to, but then they do something so sweet, or say the funniest thing and I have to remind myself that the testing phase will continue forever and it is not that bad…free will is a bitch, right? Or is it karma…food for thought today!

Hammer time!

Monster trucking at the beach!

Mommy’s hatching – This is probably the funniest, and maybe the most embarrassing thing ever said about me. Raleigh looks at my heel, mind you, I am in desperate need of a pedicure, and said, “mommy’s hatching.” I first thought he said “scratching” but no, he said “hatching” as in an egg hatching. Um, thanks, and ewww!
Muff cakes anyone? Never heard of a “muff cake?” Well, if you have, maybe you are thinking, does this belong in a blog post centered around kids? To let you know, a muff cake is a cup cake. I think it started out as a muffin and a cupcake, and now all cupcakes are “muff cakes” and muffins are just muffins. I cannot correct them when they say it because again, I am wrong, and just have a good old laugh every time they say it! Nothing like going to a kids birthday party and two little boys yelling with glee “MUFF CAKES!”

Donald’s House – the boys call McDonald’s “Donald’s House.” We have only been a few times, usually on special one-on-one occasions with the boys. I just think it is funny that they call it Donald’s House.
No, not yet, five minutes, or one minute, two minute, etc. They will ask for two more minutes of a toy, or one minute before we go, or two minutes before they have to switch toys with their brother. They know two is more than one minute, and five is a big request, so they save it for the good stuff. It has come in handy when we need them to take turns, we ask them to ask their brother or friend to switch or for a turn in two minutes. It generally cuts down on their fights, whew! It is hard to resist extra cuddles when they say, “no, not yet, Mommy, five minutes, cuddle me more mommy.” Awww!

Can we feed the ducks? So we are at Busch Gardens with friends. One of my friends is cool enough to have worked their pre-twinkies and still knows a lot of people at Busch. One of our favorite areas is the new Walkabout area with Australian animals. The boys are too young to feed the kangaroos and wallabies, but they can feed the ducks nearby. Well, our good friend Miss K did not know the person at the food stand, so we did not get duck food this particular day…until Raleigh walked up and batted his eyes and said “feed ducks, please.” Well, we all got cups for everyone and had fun feeding the ducks for free. Thanks, Raleigh! Here is the lady below, holding a little wallaby, named Stanley.

Starbucks, that’s mommy’s coffee place. They can spot a Starbucks about as quickly and well as they can spot a police car. For this, I am thankful! Don’t worry, in the shots below, they are drinking harmless chocolate milk – not coffee!

That’s a weed, and pull. Augustus is mini-Matthew ALL THE WAY! I love his OCD, as I know it will make him a great man. We were playing in the backyard, which is mostly paved, and he was mowing his mower – his fave – and saw a piece of grass sticking up through the pavers. He immediately yelled “that’s a weed” and proceeded to pull it. Such a good little-man!
gus happy face

New shoes! New shoes! The boys are obsessed with new shoes. Although, now they are not so new, but newer. The boys have been in size 7 for FOREVER! Seriously, almost a year now. We finally broke down and got some new size 7s and you would think Gus won the lottery. He immediately wakes up and wants his new shoes on. We have about 4 pairs that he considers new shoes. That is the easiest thing to make him happy without even trying!

They still bring their penis up at random times in conversation and this is quite amusing. Although, I have to try not to laugh. Raleigh has also taken to pulling his pants down outside for a fire hose pee every so often…we are trying to house train him again! However, it does come in handy when we are no where near a restroom out and about…does that officially make me a Redneck? For example, our multiple birth mom’s club was at a preserve walking the boardwalk with our littlies, and all of us just let our kids pee into the woods off the side of the boardwalk…much easier than running back to the restrooms a mile and a half away. I was pretty impressed with the little girls who could do as well as the boys;)

Augustus, enjoying his spaghetti thoroughly. this boys loves to eat and it shows whenever he does!

Making cheetah masks. Notice the clothespin holding the sponges to get the boys less dirty. Notice, I did not say, keep them clean, just less messy! More about this in a crafty blog post coming soon.

Daddy makes the best pancakes.

Fun food cutouts. We’ll try anything to help mealtime go well. Love the cookie cutter sandwiches, here we have a cow and a chicken with flowers. Also, we are getting on the bento bandwagon and trying to eat lots of food on sticks. Fun times. If you have not seen this web site, http://www.anotherlunch.com/ check it out! AWESOME!