Birthday month! (August)

August mostly consisted of getting ready for the kids 4th birthday party and getting ready for school!
It's hard to believe they're four - it feels as if it's gone by really fast, but sometimes it feels like it's taken forever!  I had heard from some of my twin mom friends that it gets a lot easier at four, but I'm still waiting for that.  I admit that it's gotten easier with somethings but harder with others.  For example, they can get themselves dressed, but will often have a tantrum, crying "I can't do it" because they don't want to!  There is so much attitude being exerted by all of them that it's sometimes hilarious to hear the things they say but also scary to hear the same things that I've been saying, come out of them!

We had a "Minion" birthday party - partly because of the new movie that was coming out around that time, but also because everyone agreed on this theme without arguing! A few days before we made sure everyone had a 'Minion' shirt to wear so we went to Target to shop and went to get some haircuts!

I had a few little things planned to do at their party - kids made their own Minion hats and could pretend they were a minion and stick their face in the hole,  and pin the bow tie on the Minion and of course since it was really warm - we had the water slide up and pool up and running.

Amici Bakery did an AWESOME job on their cake.  I gave them a few pictures from pintrest and they did a great job and gave us a great deal.

We opened up a bunch of presents and a good time was had by everyone.  We had a pinata - it seems as though I don't have any pictures of that!

We of course had to have some pictures done - the obligatory 4 year old pictures so we got some done.  They of course came out well.

                                                            Happy Birthday to us!!!

July... (yes, July)

We went camping in July!  My sisters and I went camping many summers in a row with our grandparents to a place in upstate New York called Fish Creek - the same place my mom used to go as a child with her brothers and sister.  My grandparents had a small pop-up camper that we stayed at for about a week or two in the summer.  Having kids myself, I now understand that this was mainly a break for my mom and dad but we enjoyed it as well.  My Uncle Bill has gone back there camping in the past few years and asked if anyone else wanted to go this year and we all made a plan to go.  It was basically a small family reunion and we rolled it into a birthday party for my mom and dad who turned 70 in August/October.  My sisters and their kids went along with my family and all of my uncles and aunts (with the exception of one).  We drove up and endured a few nights rain and cold nights in a tent.  The kids were snug in their sleeping bags that we got them (as an early Birthday present) from LLBean that were rated for 40 degree temperatures.  I had several layers on plus a down comforter and still shivered through the night.  It was a little rough in the rain - mostly because the bathroom was a few minutes away and most of my trip was spent going back and forth to the bathroom but I think (hope) the kids had fun.

Here's some pictures from the trip...

Hanging out inside the tent!

Getting ready for bed...

Everyone wanted their own flashlight!

The view from our campsite

Hanging out near the water.

What a great view!

 There was a small beach area as part of the campground that we drove to, along with a playground.

Olivia swimming out a little too far out!

Tony collecting some sand.

Amelia helping to build the sand castle.

Olivia's sand castle creation.

The last day of camping, we had a birthday party for my mom and dad.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but I think my mom knew about it a little beforehand.

The birthday couple walking up the party venue...

No paper plates for this party!  We use real plates when we camp!

Everyone enjoying the food!

My sister put together a few books for my parents - the one for my dad included all of the 'wooden' things he's made for us over the years and my mom's was an extensive family tree.

My mom and dad and her four brothers and their wives!

My mom and dad with all of their grandchildren :)

In addition to camping the kids spent a lot of time outside in the pool.  They got really nice tans.  I attended a wedding shower for Melanie's sister - Emily.  It was a nice afternoon away to celebrate her upcoming nuptials.  I didn't get any great pictures, but it was fun.

Our town had a few 'food truck' events that we went to.  Basically several food trucks were invited to the downtown area and they had some tables/chairs set up.  The kids liked eating and running around afterwards.

The only other thing in July was the starting of swimming lessons.  Olivia is naturally a very good swimmer - she's pretty good and catching on pretty quickly.  Tony and Amelia are not as 'talented' but I hope that at least they'll be able to get to the edge of the pool and not drown if something were to happen.  God forbid!

(writing this in December - makes me long for the long summer days)

Here's what happened in June!

June started with PreK orientation.  Our town offers half day PreK and I think we're all excited for it.  The kids to get out and meet new friends and learn more and for Tony because he needs a break.  The kids came and we all sat in the gym/lunch room for a few minutes and then the teachers took the kids down to their classrooms.  I think the teachers were sizing them up and deciding which kids were going to be their rooms.  We requested that all of ours stay in the same class and they are going to honor our request.  While the kids 'played' in their classrooms, we stayed and listened to the principal talk about how to get prepared for school.  It was about an hour and after the talk, we retrieved the kids and found they had been playing with play-doh, drawing and more.   I wasn't sure how they'd all do - leaving us and going with the teachers, but they were all fine.  I was happy about that and proud that they're all independent enough to separate.

We've also been doing alot of playing outside, in the pool, on the waterslide, on the tricycles/scooters. 

We've gotten ice cream and even went to see our first movie in the theater!  We went to see Inside Out.  What a cute movie.  I'm not sure they understood everything, but they did relatively well sitting in their seats.  I think their favorite part was the popcorn!  Olivia got lost for a few seconds at the end of the movie.  She got swept away by the crowd of people leaving that theater and we found her in a circle of other parents asking who she belonged to.   She wasn't scared at all - but she wasn't lost for very long.  They had a great time taking pictures amongst the movie posters/signs/displays.

Amelia's cast came off during of the month.  She was a little nervous to walk on it for the first day or two after the cast came off, but she was off and running within several days .  She had some restrictions - like no running for the first week and no going into bounce houses for a few weeks which we abided by.  It was amazing to see how fast it healed and what a trooper she was throughout the whole thing.