I mentioned it earlier in the week, but Taylor had a Dr. Seuss week at school. They learned about the famous author, made whimsical art projects, did fun activities and dressed up with a different theme each day.  Taylor had an absolute blast and genuinely looked forward to each day of “being a crazy girl.” One of the projects they did was in conjunction with the book Oh, The Places You’ll Go!  Her teacher asked the kids to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grow up. My sweet girl drew a picture of herself as a doctor, complete with a stethoscope in her hands. She has been unwavering in her desire to be a doctor for about two years now. I don’t know if it’s something that she’ll always have a passion for, but we are always proud of her and will always support her dreams, no matter what.  Here are a few pictures from her fun week.

Backwards Day, Crazy Hat Day, Crazy Outfit Day, Crazy Sock Day, & Crazy Hair Day

Taylor actually said to me: “Mama, my beautiful hair is always crazy; how are we going to make it even crazier?” She’s kind of amazing.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go… -Dr. Seuss

Apparently, the running theme the boys are going with this week is POOP. Why stop something they love? As many people know, I duct tape the boys diapers religiously because they strip and take off their diapers. Thankfully, this method has always worked well for us, no matter how odd it may seem to some. The past month, the stripping has been at a minimum. I thought they were showing growth and maturity – or something like that, when really, they were just waiting for me to put my guard down. I almost didn’t tape them at nap time today, but I looked into their devious eyes and went ahead and taped them up.

I am feeling under the weather and actually fell asleep when they did, which never happens. Todd had a half day and went to pick up Taylor and do some errands. When Todd walked in their room upon returning home, I heard “No. No. Seriously. What is wrong with you two! I’m not happy!” This was followed by lots of laughter. Spoiler alert: Todd wasn’t the one laughing.  These hoodlums pooped, stripped, and played in it, although the order in which that happened will never be clear.  That spot you see on Jackson’s sweet forehead in the above picture – poop. It was a manure massacre. There was poop on the beds, sheets, and walls. There was poop on blankets, Mickey Mouse dolls, and Minions. There was poop smeared into the carpet. There was poop on the bureau, in which their dirty duct taped diapers were placed on the top shelf. There was poop on their faces and massaged into their hair like it was some kind of exotic spa treatment. Needless to say, the adults weren’t exactly happy. We divided and conquered. I bathed the fecal twins as Todd began to clean the room. They served a long time out and glared at me the entire time. While doing a check of their room later and scrubbing the carpets, I found a hidden crap ball behind a bed. Thankfully the heat wasn’t on today.

In case anyone was wondering if doing laundry with twin toddlers running around got easier for me after the dryer incident today, I’m here to tell you that it, in fact, did not. It actually went terribly, terribly wrong.

Yesterday, I did a bunch of laundry and left the lid of the washer open, as I always do, so it doesn’t stink. The joke is on me with that one.  As I was cleaning the kids up last night, Todd opened the laundry room door and tossed in the day’s laundry (from each kid) as I finished washing them up. We can only assume that one small child (or children) decided to take the contents of the garbage pail which is front of the washer, and toss everything in the washer. When I looked in the machine this morning I only saw a pile of dirty clothes. I received the surprise of a lifetime when I went to move the clothes over to the dryer.  Not only was that beautifully enlarged diaper wrapped up in my brand new sweatshirt, but I also found at least ten baby wipes, what used to be paper towels and poop. Yes, poop. More precisely, I found balls of human poop mixed in with all of our “clean” clothing. After what I can only describe as the worst fishing expedition of all time, the poop was removed, and everything was re-washed – with LOTS of bleach.

I’m so glad these boys have my back and make sure I’m never, ever bored.

We have been loving the warmer weather lately. The past few days have been absolutely beautiful.  We’ve been able to play outside after school and the kids willingly pushed dinner time back so we can all benefit from the last few moments of sunlight.

I’d like to be able to say that having the kids running around and playing outside has made them much more mellow and relaxed, and better listeners, but that would be a blatant lie. They still cause as much mischief as ever, only they now do it in the fresh air! Just yesterday, instead of playing with toys or going down the slide, they had a secret meeting in which they discussed the best way to attempt pulling the siding off of our house. They went right over and started working on their plan, until they realized they were caught out. Now, this was mostly Joseph’s doing, but Jacks was definitely playing the role of the helpful older brother. We also spent some time chasing them, trying to safely get rocks out of their mouths, that they were actually trying to eat! Again, mostly Joseph. Maybe I’m sensing a pattern… They had a blast though and did manage to behave for a large chunk of time in between, so we’ll take what we can get. These faces are pretty cute to look at, too.

As usual, I had about a million other things gong on as I was writing this post. One of the things was laundry.  It’s always laundry. I took clothes out of the dryer and ran to grab an item of food Ranger shouldn’t have been given out of his mouth. Cleaning up dog poop from an upset belly is not on my to do list today, so I tried to avoid that! Anyway, I turn around, and Jackson is in the dryer. Why? For fun. No, really, why? Because the door was open. Seriously why? I don’t know; my kids are odd. Apparently, he thought it was a wonderful place to hide out with a plate and a rolling pin. He had a blast and was pretty upset when I told him it wasn’t a toy and he needed to get out now. Joseph was equally, if not more angered, that I wouldn’t give him his own turn. As long as they aren’t in true danger, I snap a few quick pictures of whatever mischief they are getting into before safely removing them. Their life stories are better told in photographic evidence. 😉

I shouldn’t even need to post this, but the world is a crazy place. No children were harmed in the making of this post. I promise; they are all safe and currently destroying the playroom.

Taylor’s class is learning about Dr. Seuss this week. They are celebrating him by having a “crazy week” in which they wear crazy outfits, socks, hats, etc. She is having so much fun. I will share pictures of her in her “crazy” outfits later this week.

I offered to bring in a special snack for her class tomorrow, so tonight, we made green eggs and ham! Of course, our green eggs and ham are non-traditional and are a sweet treat, but I’m sure the kids will love them. Taylor helped me make them. She actually did her own batch with the candies I wasn’t using. The boys had no complaints when it came time to sample them either. I love doing fun things like this for the kids and I’m sure her class will enjoy them!

Taylor’s class apparently read a book about a redheaded girl with freckles. She was so excited to tell me all about it, and I thought it was great that she had found another character to relate to based on her red hair.

My excitement quickly vanished when I was informed that she told her class: “I know what freckles are! My mama has them on her butt!” Mortified.

If you need me, I’ll be under a rock.

It is impossible for the kids and I to go anywhere without getting comments and questions. I get “Wow, your hands are full” quite often. The other thing we hear a lot of is “Are they twins?!” I usually answer politely, as I know most people are just generally curious.  We have had our share of rude comments, but that’s a story for another day. The kids have started responding to the “Are they twins?” questions lately, on their own. Taylor will often say “Not another one” (while slapping her palm to her forehead) or answer “Yes they are but they are my brothers!” Jackson’s go-to answers are “yes” or “Go away.” Joseph simply stares people down.

Today, as we were trying on hats at Costco, as I’m sure all people do on a Wednesday afternoon, Jackson formulated a new response. Instead of using his words, he flipped the bird! I’d like to think that he is innocent and doesn’t know the meaning behind it, but he is, after all, related to my mom. He could very well be perfecting the fix your glasses technique…

Happy Leap Day!

Today, Taylor and her class celebrated their 100th day of school! They had a special homework assignment, made crowns, and made necklaces out of 100 Fruit Loops. She shared some of the necklace with her brothers, and we only ended up with about 40 pieces of cereal smashed into the carpet. Success. She had such a fun day. She was extremely excited because one of my twin mom friends, Rhonda, made her an adorable shirt to wear for the occasion. She very proudly showed it off to her teacher and friends, and I have to say, she looked pretty darn cute.

I picked her up from school, sans boys today, and we had a special Mommy / Daughter date.  She had no idea where we were going, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that our destination was “the ice cream store.” We had a wonderful time. It’s not often that we have one-on-one time together, so this was extra special. She made sure to thank me profusely and told me how much she loves me and how she’s happy I’m her mommy. She melted my heart. She proceeded to tell me that she wants three brothers instead of two, but I won’t hold that against her!

I am so lucky that this beautiful little girl is mine!

If you need any cool shirts made, please feel free to contact me for my friend’s info.