My sister and I

Last night spencer was working late, sometimes i hate it when he isn't  home for dinner, bath or bedtime.  but sometimes it allows me to focus on how special our girls are.  on how much i love them, and how much they love me.  i remember several years ago watching my sister Jo play with her kids, and i felt the love they all had for each other.  at that particular time i was unmarried and i thought to myself, 'i can't wait for the day to feel that much love." and i am lucky enough to now feel how great the love is between a mom and her children.  there is nothing more amazing than hearing a little voice yell, "mom your home." or hearing their feet slap the floor as they chase after you in a fun game of tickle monster.  i knew i always wanted to me a mom, and i am so grateful to be able to experience the many highs and lows mother hood brings.  but the other night as it was just me and the girls reading books for bedtime we read "my sister and I".  (my sister amanda gave it to me several years ago, before i had kids, because it is so sweet and talks about the great bond sisters have together.)  sometime spencer laughs at me because i can tear up at just about anything these days.  and he would have got a good laugh the other night as i read this book to the girls.  but i think most sisters, and moms would tear up when they read this book.

"My sister and i are birds of a feather,

we love one another and being together.

And so you wil find us most every day, just tending the friendship that God sent our way.

We like to draw pictures of horses and cats,

we like to wear costumes with glamous hats.

we like sharing secrets, our dreams, and our plans... and we laugh at our mishaps as only friends can!

We play with our dolls and comb out their hair. we pick up our tools and fix the old chair.

ands we like to go chasing fireflies at night and follow their flight till they fly out of sight.

we like cozy nooks! we like storybooks!

we like to pretend that we're really good cooks. but its eay to spot; great chefs, we are not!

sometimes we'll listen to favorite songs and sing right along and get the words wrong.

or sometimes we'll play with our puppy all day and teach him with treats how to sit and to stay!

and yes, there are times that we part for a while....

but we always make up with our hearts full of smiles.

yes, we're two of a kind, and i know that is why...

we'll be close forever,

My sister and I."

 I'm so grateful to be a mom to two wonderful little sweet spirits.  I'm so grateful that like me, they get to experience the sweet special love of sisterhood.  i'm so glad that these girls will allows have each other.  Just like i have always had my sisters. Because my sister's and i are birds of a feather, just like me and my girls.

Waco ZOO

we headed to the Waco Zoo, wondering what we would see...

the girls had a great time, its definitely a smaller zoo, and some of the animals look a little sad. 

but we had a great time anyway.

they had this slide that went through the otter exhibit, and the girls kept laughing and having so much fun. 

so spence and i sat down on some rockers and let them slide away.

the giraffes were super fun and spence took some really great pictures of them.

Tenley fell in love with the orangutan statue.  she kept hugging it and kissing it.  it was pretty cute and tender. 

we had a great adventure at the zoo.  spence is currently on radiology and its a pretty easy rotation for him so we are enjoying him being home a lot.  i'm getting spoiled with him being around so much, that i am actually really enjoying texas too.  i can't believe i said that, but its not so bad here.

pumpkin carving

 Last week we carved pumpkins and i thought the girls would love playing all the gooey seeds

 and in typical twin A fashion, tenley was horrified of the knive, the seeds, and all the goo. (this is her running away and hiding) while twin B quincy couldn't get enough of everything and really wanted to cut it open.

 once all the cutting was done, and tenley saw that quincy was realy having a great time, she finally joined in on the fun! she liked stirring the seeds (i have a baker in the making)

 love this picture! sometimes the girls really don't like wearing anything, in fact if they had it their way they would be naked all the time, except for their princess high heels. cute bums huh!

 the girls love riding their bikes all over! and since there are no sidewalks in texas, they are riding them all over the back yard and in the house!

and here they are begging their papa for some food! hot wings off the bone, these girls are always hungry. 

 and we enjoyed some hot texas rain! quincy wanted to dance and run through it while tenley was completely content to sit on the side and color with her sidewalk chalk.

 quincy grabbed some buckets and started collecting rain! after awhile she realized it would be even funner if she then dumped all the water on us!

i know there is lots of snow in utah, the girls have no idea what snow is! its still nice and warm here, we are hoping for a cold front that will cool us down to 651

play time

These girls are so much fun! they love playing with each other and are always asking where sister went?!  in fact i can't remember the last time they have been apart aside from sleeping.  It really is nice that they have each other, and that they love each other so much. 

Quincy loves the camera and will make a huge CHEESE grin when she sees the camera.  Tenley is more shy and hardly ever wants to look at the camera, i think its because she is so busy and doesn't have time to pose.

we went back up to waco to the children's museum the girls loved it!

and the whole drive there the girls were excited to see big trucks, trains, and put their hands up high in the air when we go under a bridge. (aunt amanda taught us how to tickle bridges when we drive under them, and the girls think it is the funniest thing in the world) who needs movies when you can create your own fun!

Q really got into this last time, putting on different outfits and driving every car!

the girls are now 2 1/2 years old, and they seem so grown up.  i think we can say we are 95% potty trained except for nap time and bedtime. so we only go through 3/4 sams club box of diapers a month instead of 2! that is about $50 a  month we save!

they also love signing, they will sign just about anything from mama mia to i am a child of god.  and if i try to sign along, they say, "no tenley's turn, or no my turn."

they love coloring and playing with stickers, it so fun to watch their little fingers try to pull off stickers. 

they are counting, their alphabet is such a breeze and they can recognize letters when they see them.

they like dressing themselves, i usually help them get their head through and they do the rest! they amaze me!

Q always wants to go to church and go running in the stroller or at the park, and play with hudson.

Tenley always wants to play with Jane,give Eskimo kisses to her dad, 

read books and go see ms. D at the gym.  they both love brushing their teeth and washing their hands that i have to hide their tooth brushes and soap. 

they love cleaning and will sweep the floor and put stuff in the trash, they really want to help out.

these girls are so fun and both so unique and different. it seems like a lifetime ago i was up all night and day feeding them, and cleaning bottles.  time has flown by, but i don't forget how hard it was to get here either. 

spence and i both love these girls so much, and try to laugh and remember each precious moment.  like when i say, 'let's go to the store,' and tenley puts her hands over her mouth and with pure excitements yells, 'oh my goodness thats sounds like so much fun, good idea!'  or how excited they get to wash the car.

 i love how they talk to each other, sometimes its sweet and nice, and sometimes its not. 

...you did it sister, oh that is so cute, sister come! coming! look! trade.

and then there is sit in corner right now, don't push me, stop crying.

but their little conversations are so funny.

we love these girls and their fun personalities.  they really do want to be just like us in everyway so spence and i have to watch what we say and do.  its cute seeing the girls try and do push ups, and sit ups, and run fast, and eat different foods just because we do.  i never thought i would be such a proud mama of such simple things.

halloween

Halloween night we headed downtown...if you can call it downtown. for some trick-o-treating!  this is one building on main street and its actually pretty cool looking, and haunted i'm sure!

of course in true tenley fashion she couldn't wait any longer for a piece of candy! she had to grab her sucker and eat it right then and there!

main street was fun, i think that we got there before any of the REAL fun started, but we had a party to get to so we got some candy and headed out.  

spence had heard about this crazy yard decoration so we drove out to see what it was really like. 

tenley was scared to death! she actually made me take her back to the car 

because she was so "nervous."

Quince of course could care less, and posed for several pictures! classic!

later that night we headed over to the smiths house for a culdasac-o-fun! and had a great pot luck dinner and sent all the kids trick-o-treating together!

the dads took the kids around the neighborhood while the mom's all got to sit around and chat, and give out candy of course!

we all had a blast and the smith's are great hosts!

i honestly think it was my favorite halloween so far.  (it definitely topped last year as spence was in seatle and tenley throw-up all over the car after trick-o-treating)

here are some of the gals, the boys were all too busy eating candy....or something.

turning 30 DOESN'T suck

spencer finally turned 30...finally because now he can't tease me that i'm so old...cause i'm in my 30's!

(hence the sign says DOESN'T suck because it really doesn't suck!)

for his birthday all he wanted was a PARTY..so party we did!

i tried to be as creative as i could so our guests would be wooed and aahed by my skills...

ghosts, mummies, and eyeballs.  they looked good and tasted even better!

I also made spence a cake with his favorite thing! Rootbeer! and he didn't share one piece!

EyE think we had a great time!

i'm still perfecting the Eye balls so next year they will look as good as they taste!

Mickey and Minnie!  BYU and Cat woman!

the smith's witch and fireman

they also have twins! (and 3 other kids, she is more than amazing)

Tenley and her friend Shannon, and Hudson.

of course we ate donuts on a string. the kids loved it! Quincy and Hudson were eating the same donut and we laughed so hard because they kept kissing!

pumpkin roll and mummy t-peeing!

the kids had a great time! we even set up the bounce house in the back bedroom and just let the kids go crazy!

we forgot to get pictures of everyone. but here is popeye (i was olive olye) and issac the hippee!

we played several adult games, but the best was the dance off for the costume contest!

who can resist dancing to thriller at a halloween party, especially when a prize is at steak.

we had a great time, and can't wait to do it all again next year! thanks to all our friends who made our party the best yet! can't believe our little house fit over 25people!

its nice to be making some great friends here in texas, (but we did miss our traditional Annie party)