Ballet Party and Easter Fun

We went to a super fun ballet birthday party a couple weekends back. The teacher had all of the party guests' full attention. The girls were so incredibly cute. We may just have to take lessons at Ballet Fantastique in the future. Here is a pic of the birthday girl opening her presents.

Blogger is being incredibly lame and will not let me upload any video. It's maddening! I may have

to migrate this blog to wordpress or some other blog host. Be patient, video fans. I do have a great video from the ballet party of the guests doing a dance to Swan Lake.

Speaking of videos, Jim made me the now-traditional retrospective family video for mom's day. I love, love, love this tradition! All of the past year's special moments are packed into a highlight reel starring your favorite twins and mine. This year there are sections that chronicle holidays, vacations, visits with family and friends, and the biggest event/progression of the year - Skylar's hearing loss diagnosis and fitting with hear betters.

Listening to her talk right after getting them impressed on me how far she has come with her speech in just 8 months. There were no. ending. consonents. in her speech before she got them. She couldn't hear those sounds, so she couldn't produce them. She said her new hear betters were "oran" and "peen." I knew what she meant, but now the clear enunciation of "orange" and "pink" is par for the course. -Smile-

PS I can't post the video due to (admittedly adorable) child nudity. :-) And, due to Blogger sucking. So, here are a couple of Easter pics to enjoy in the meantime!

Danville, Part 2

Last November, Skylar and I traveled to Danville, CA to visit cousins Katie and Anika and have a little mother-daughter time. This month, it was finally Paige's turn. She had a blast! Skylar had a lot of fun at home with Daddy and Gramma and Papa H, too.

When the girls got back together, there was much showing to each other their recently acquired items, telling stories of the weekend's festivities, and general merriment of the three year old variety. There also was almost immediate reversion to petty cat fights and Competitive Twin Syndrome (I just named that, but it surely exists and has probably been studied and well documented). So the homecoming was a little bitter sweet. It reminds me of the value of one-on-one time and also of the strength and specialness of the bond my girls share.

Next I'll post the video the three girls took to send to Skylar. (Blogger is having a video uploading issue at the moment). She reportedly watched it 100 times. :-)

Spring Equinox

Happy Spring, everyone!

We took a one-night trip to the coast to celebrate spring in Oregon - more day light, tiny green leaves all over, driving rain, daffodils, and the vast Pacific, which is full of whales right now, though we didn't catch any glimpses.

P and S loved playing in the sand at the beach and visiting the Oregon Aquarium. They have been there before, but this time seemed to really enjoy seeing and showing us (over and over) all of the animals. Paige said her favorite animal was the shark, so we got her a soft huggable one which she named "Silly Palace." ?! Sky liked the "elephants and the seals." When reminded of the absence of elephants at the aquarium, she rephrased: "pretend elephants and the seals." Her small seal toy/keychain was dubbed "Seal Paw."

Nye Beach

This last pic is by Paige!

Grandparent Angels

Paige and Skylar are lucky to have four grandparent angels. They are such an important part of all of our lives! On Valentine's Day, a package arrived from Gramma Rotzie and Papa Tom, which never fails to elicit squeals of delight and demands to immediately "open it!" Inside were two small suitcases, one purple and one orange, each containing four different outfits of handmade doll clothes. "Oh!" the girls cried, and raced to get their "Kaidans" (all four of the girls' baby dolls are named Kaidan after their assistant teacher's 10-month old son). They proceeded to try all of the new outfits on their dolls, and carry the little suitcases around the house. These clothes are really special. Thank you so much to Gramma R. for making them! Here is one of the Kaidans wearing her fashionable hoodie and purple overalls.

Gramma Mary and Papa Mike also arrived on Valentine's Day. They left today after another wonderful two-week visit. While they were here, they stayed over on a Saturday night with the girls while Jim and I got to go to Portland - by ourselves- to shop, dine, hang out and sleep in. THANK YOU. Here's the view from the rooftop bar Departure, downtown Portland:

The next Saturday, Gramma M. and Papa M. stayed with the girls most of the day while we attended the EC Cares' Power of Parenting Conference, which we really wanted to go to. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy welcomed the attendees, and described how raising two children with special needs inspired her to become an educator, run and serve in the State Legislature, and become Mayor of Eugene. I had tears in my eyes from the first sentence. She is quite an inspiration.

So, grandparent angels...we couldn't do it without you. You're all inspiring. And now, for a special dance. Skylar seems to prefer the more classical, or popular, dance forms while Paige displays an affinity for the, ah, expressive :-)

Total Freedom to Let it all Out

This video cracks me up - hilarious, endearing, and adorable. Look at Sky's outfit! Her moves! The wacky accompaniment by her twin sister! Just precious. Can't wait to show this to them when they are older.

January and the Treats are Frozen

I took the goofballs for some frozen yogurt yesterday - both had chocolate with chocolate chips. Delish! We spent the morning passing out stickers to green and yellow clad fans in the Celebration of Champions Parade (videos to come soon), and today we went to our first UO women's basketball game in the new Matthew Knight Arena. I tell you what, that place is fancy. Big weekend fun was had by all. Enjoy the sequence below - the other customers in the yogurt shop certainly did!

Holiday Photo Highlights

Here are some of my favorite shots from our trip to California. But before we go there, can I just say that I'm completely blown away by how my daughters can take my breath away without really doing anything. Recently, I've been absolutely smitten by them - love this age! - at random times like when I looked over at them tonight, eating dinner at their little table, just doing their thing, being all adorable and perfect. Or when I grasped Paige's hands and helped her leap! out of the minivan into the garage with glee. Or when I danced with Skylar in my arms in the kitchen - the look on her face as we twirled around just sent me over the moon. I'm super feelin' the love.

Jim and Skylar play with the new iPad

Paige puts Baby to sleep in her new quilt and pillow (made by Gramma Rotzie), next to her new cradle hand made by Papa Tom! She's wearing her new hat, coat, pajamas, and slippers.

Close up of the vogue girl with her new hat.

Skylar loved being tickled by Uncle Tim.

Legoland - the girls riding in their own train car.

Paige, Skylar, and Ava show off their "drivers' licenses" after driving their own little electric cars!

Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo

Watching the planes land at SFO outside Coyote Point Museum. This was as much fun as the museum itself!