Rainy Day

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay rolled through the area yesterday, making it wet for everyone. The girls enjoyed the chance to use their Dora umbrellas.

Wiggly Update

Today was the Wiggles' first Raleigh concert. For those of you not intimately familiar with my family, the girls love the Wiggles. With Lily especially, it borders on obsession. Until recently, she wouldn't even watch other shows. So when I heard they were coming to Raleigh, I immediately bought tickets during the pre-sale.

We've been talking about the event for some time, and they were very excited to go today. Lily got up and wanted to wear her "Wiggle" shirt. Miss Briana did their hair pretty at school just for a night out on the town.

Then we went and picked up KFC for dinner so that we could "tailgate" in the parking lot at the RBC Center. I got popcorn chicken, biscuits, and potato wedges. Lily had her standard two juice boxes, and Madeleine drank one. The girls ate more than I expected, but they definitely could not wait to get inside.

It was 40 minutes until show time, so I wanted to walk the concourse a bit. The lines for the merchandise tables were huge. I had wanted to get them some shirts but thought better of it. Instead I got a program, and we went to our seats to have a read. Daddy went and got us some popcorn, which Lily immediatly spilled quite a bit of.

For the next half hour, Lily, along with every other kid in the arena, asked where the Wiggles were every two minutes. Finally, the lights dimmed around 6:35, and the show started. The opening act was a couple of clowns and a ballet montage. I thought it was great, but the kids were really ready for the Wiggles.

Lily screamed. It was so funny, but it brought tears to my eyes that she was so excited. The clapping kind of scared Madeleine at first, but she warmed up after a bit. Apparently the Big Red Car wasn't functioning, so poor Anthony had to push the thing around.

The show went for an hour and a half, and no mistake about it, this must be the hardest working crew in show business. They played a ton of songs - most of them old favorites. They also played to the parents as well . There was a Stairway to Heaven interlude, and Lily got down the most to a version of Superfreak.

Of course, when the show was over, the girls were very sad. Lily just cried the whole way out of the arena. I didn't see any other kids yelling that much, but it was over an hour past bedtime for her. She screamed all the way home, "I want the Wiggles!" Madeleine was just upset we left the popcorn.

Here they are pointing their fingers and doing the twist:

Both girls passed out when we got home.

Sisterly Snuggles

Latest art project

Okay, this is an art project for me, not the girls.

We're going to see the "Pop Goes the Wiggles" concert on Friday night at the RBC Center. We've been talking to them about it since we bought the tickets a month ago, but I want them to be looking forward to it this week and know when it's going to happen. So I thought I'd put together kind of an Advent calendar thing where we'll count down the days until the concert.

Behind each photo is a number of days left, with Sam being Friday (0 Days!). The trick will be getting them to not pull each day off at once. I'll have to hang it up high.

Thank you Miss Valerie!

Today was the girls' last day in the two year-old room at EPLC. Every stage has been unique, but they really grew into wonderful, independent, little people this past year. Their teacher, Miss Valerie has played a huge part in that.

I don't know if it's common for first-time MoMs or not, but I feel like I'm more tentative than moms of singletons or moms of more than one. Having the girls in a day care environment has been a blessing this way because I feel like I have the "experts" I can ask when I have a question or a concern. Valerie has done an amazing job with the girls, and I know I have her to thank for their table skills, manners, and potty training. Left to my own devices, who knows what would have happened?

There have been a number of other teachers in the room this past year with the girls, but Valerie has been their one constant. Madeleine seems to be the most attached. When we play school, she's always Miss Valerie. Lily is usually one of the other teachers or a JumpBunch coach. Lucky mommy gets to be Lily or Madeleline. They both point her out in books where there's pictures of "friends." They really love her, and I know she loves them as well.

They've matured so much in the past year, I can't even imagine what this coming year has in store for our family. I don't know if the girls will even notice that something has changed on Monday, but I can't let it pass without recognizing Valerie and all the other teachers at EPLC for the amazing job they do every day.

Overheard

Lily: Mommy? I have a good idea.
Mommy: What's that
Lily: When people come over to our house to visit, we should give them a kiss.

Weekend Update

We were pretty busy this weekend. Since the weather was cooler, we took the girls out to North Cary Park Saturday morning. They did the usual sand area, slides, and climbing. But we also took a short walk through the park to see the climbing rock and volleyball courts. The girls had lots of questions about both.

Saturday afternoon we did water play. After discovering a leak in the front yard, Eric and I thought better of filling up the pool, so we just let them play with buckets and containers. They had just as much fun. In the shade, the were going to get cool fairly quickly anyway. Lily only ate biscuits for dinner, but Madeleine did eat her chicken and mashed potatoes.

Sunday morning it was stormy so we just stayed in. I considered it a huge success we got away with only watching 3 episodes of our new favorite show, Blues Clues. They did a lot of coloring and made up some "games" based on things they'd done in Jumpbunch. The love taking turns being a coach or teacher and telling Mommy what to do.

Sunday afternoon we let them pick the activity, so we went to Jumpin Beans. They had a really good time. Madeleine was a little nervous to go places where other adults were without me. I only noticed one grandmother staring at us for a very long time. I couldn't tell if it was the twin thing or the fact that I had two girls, and she had brought two boys. Just before leaving, she got the nerve to talk to me. It was the twin thing.

They barely ate any dinner again. I gave them plenty of choices: burgers, potato chips, sesame noodles, mozzarella/tomato salad, and grapes. They "tried" the burger and then ran off to play. There was only bun consumption when I actually checked the burgers.

Mini-me?

Recognize anything?

My mom had put this dress in the girls' closet back when they were babies. It's just been hanging out there. Now that we're in the mood for dresses all the time, Madeleine begged to wear it the other week. So, I let her. She got ink on it and everything, but oh well.

I can't see a resemblance at all. Other than neither my mom or I can do bangs right.

Fashion Plates

The girls have been wanting to pick out their clothes for a few months now. And as long as there's no safety hazard involved, I let them. It has led to us leaving the house in a few questionable outfits. But, we make it out in 40 minutes.

While Madeleine didn't exactly match today - at least she didn't have two left feet! I didn't realize Lily had two left sandals until we were already at day care.

Smiley Face

Imagine my surprise on Friday when I saw what Lily was doing. It's not just colors or scribbles anymore, but faces. I guess they've been working on them at day care, but they snuck up on me. Just a few weeks ago we started coloring in the lines. Now this!